A Heavy Rainfall
by upsetrise
Summary: A Reveal fic. Adrien has always wondered who Ladybug was under the mask, little did he know he was going to find out so soon. When Marinette's secret is uncovered by him, it already makes a double life that was hard to balance even tougher. Set halfway through season 2.
1. 1

A Heavy Rainfall

1

Marinette forced a yawn down as she looked at her textbook. The words were swimming in front of her eyes as she put it down. A nudge came from the side. She looked to see her best friend Alya with a clear grimace on her face.

"Marinette, what's wrong with you, girl? You've been yawning since this morning." She whispered into her ear. She hid her textbook so Miss Bustier couldn't hear them talking.

Marinette forced a smile on her face. The images of the latest akuma attack flashed to the front of her mind. It was clear that Hawkmoth didn't need any sleep because it had happened at six in the morning. Which was still too early to get up for school

"I'm fine Alya, really. I'm just not sleeping well." She lied.

"What's keeping you up so late? This is the third time this week." Alya muttered.

"Erm, just some new designs. I've just been extra creative this week." Marinette stammered. Alya didn't look convinced but she moved away.

Marinette let out a sigh of relief and then looked to the seat in front of hadn't turned up at school yet. He had been late three consecutive times, even later than Marinette herself. She turned her attention to Nino who had put his feet up on the desk. He had his cap titled back. Soft snores could be heard; he was asleep.

"Alya, will you ask Nino where Adrien is?" Marinette pleaded, nudging her best friend as she saw Miss Bustier turn her back to them

"You're worrying too much. He'll show up!"

"Please." Marinette begged.

Alya rolled her eyes. "Only because you're my best friend."

She carefully removed a piece of paper out of her notebook, scrunched it into a ball and then threw it at Nino's arm. She had thrown it with such force that it woke him up.

"What's going on?" He yelled.

Everyone in the class stared at him and Miss Bustier turned with a heavy sigh.

"Nino, why are you yelling?" She asked with a shake of her head.

Nino looked at everyone's expressions and laughed nervously. He saw the paper ball on his desk.

"Nothing, just a bug!" He laughed it off.

"Well next time please be quiet. I am trying to teach a class." Miss Bustier replied. She turned back to read something on the board behind her.

"Alya, what did you wake me up for?" Nino muttered.

Alya pointed to Marinette who was now staring at the door. She was pouting and a small blush had appeared on her cheeks.

"Adrien?" Nino asked with an eyebrow raise.

"The one and only. She wants to know if he's told you why he isn't at school yet." Alya replied.

He looked at Marinette. "Sorry, haven't heard anything about the dude. He should be here soon!" He said with a wink.

Marinette almost screeched.

"Alya!" She whispered underneath her breath. Her best friend just covered her mouth as she laughed.

Five minutes passed slowly. Marinette kept a closeful eye on the door. No-one came through it. In fact it wasn't until the end of the class was drawing near, that a certain blonde came running through the pushed the door open and was panting. There were a few droplets of sweat pouring off his button nose. He leant back up and went to his seat, swinging his bag to the side.

"Adrien, I hope you have a good reason for showing up late and interrupting my class?" Miss Bustier said as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Adrien scratched the back of his neck. "I had a model shoot that went a bit over. It won't happen again, I promise."

"I suppose there is nothing I can can do about that. However next time please make sure your school career has more priority in your life."

Marinette ignored the rest of the lesson. Instead she promptly stared at Adrien. He didn't seem to be paying any attention either. He was half gazing out the classroom window. Of course she couldn't see his whole face so he was in front of her, but she believed he looked wistful.

As the end of the lesson drew near and lunch could start. Alya started to whisper into Nino's ear about something. Marinette tried to listen but she kept getting prodded by her best friend's elbow. The only thing she whispered to her was, "You'll find out after school."

It was clear that once the class was over, Adrien had also been left out. Nino and Alya walked out of the door, still whispering. She had been hoping to eat lunch with Alya because this was one of the rare days that she was going to stay at school instead of going home.

Marinette got out of her seat and picked her bag up. She was going to follow them and find what they were up to. She suddenly stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"So our best friends have just ditched us huh?" Adrien said with a shrug.

Another blush formed on her cheeks as she stared at her crush.

"Yes, I guess they have." She managed to mumble out.

"Well since it's clear that they're spending time together. I think it's best if we grab something together too?"

Marinette's heart began to race. Adrien wanted to get lunch with her? Had this been Ayla's plan all along?

"Yes! I would love to eat you for lunch. No-I mean yes I would love to." Marinette looked at the floor, trying not to meet Adrien's gaze.

She only heard his wonderful laugh.

"Well let's go!"

She didn't have any time to register what was happening until he grabbed her hand and pulled her out the classroom. She just kept staring at his larger hand as he pulled her along. The tomato shade she usually turned was now probably scarlet red.

The cafeteria was right at the back of the school. Marinette normally brought a packed lunch that her parents prepared on the days she stayed. However since she had been in rush, the beautiful home-made bread wouldn't grace her lips today. Adrien had let go of her hand and now had gathered in the line. It looked like they were serving all sorts of soups today. Yet she couldn't help but notice the faint smell of fish coming from somewhere.

Marinette picked a bread roll up and some soup. She followed Adrien as they sat down together.

"So where do you think those two could have gone?" Marinette said with a goofy smile. She didn't know how long she could stay calm in front of him. Where was Alya?

As lunch passed, Marinette was able to keep a steady conversation with him going. It was mostly about trivial things such as school work and then somehow Marinette's fashion designs came up.

"You know when I saw them for father's shoot, I was pretty amazed. I think you should let my father have a look at them."

Marinette felt like she was on cloud nine. Could this day get any better?

"Adrikins!" A shrill voice called across the cafeteria. Marinette's mood turned sour. The only person that voice could belong to was Chloe.

She came out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around Adrien. He frowned and tried to pry them away but Chloe kept her grip tight.

"I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"I can see that." Adrien replied as he was finally able to get her arms off him.

Marinette grumbled as Chloe tried to grab Adrien away. She was successful and the two of them began to talk. Adrien didn't really give her a second glance.

"Why is she the most annoying person on the planet!" Marinette grumbled.

"Oh well, you're nothing like her!" Tikki said as she flew out of Marinette's clutch bag.

"I think it's time we headed back to class."

Tikki nodded and flew back into her bag.

Nino and Alya had returned just before afternoon classes had about to begin. Marinette wasn't sure what to think of the expressions on their faces.

When school had ended and it was time to collect their bags from underneath their desks, Marinette was stopped by Alya's hand.

"What's going on?" She asked as she put her backpack on.

"Nino and I were discussing something at lunch. I think you might like the sound of it." She nudged Marinette and then winked in Adrien's direction.

Nino was in the middle of talking to him and using very wild arm gestures.

"Can I ask what this thing is?" Marinette asked with a gulp.

"Ice-skating. Nino's inviting Adrien. We were supposed to go on a date but I figured we might as well invite you two along."

"Alya. Think this through again, as much as I would love to go with you guys. It's me. I'm clumsy, remember? I'm probably going to break an arm."

"I know, but you will be fine!" Alya patted her on the back and then pushed her down the steps.

Adrien turned and gave him a wide smile. Marinette wanted to melt underneath his wonderful gaze.

"Ice-skating huh? Sounds like a plan. I don't have anything planned for tonight so I'm hoping Father would let me go."

Marinette smiled back and carried on staring at his face. He frowned when she didn't reply back.

"Marinette, are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, just looking at your perfect face." Marinette muttered, not aware of everything around her.

She realised what she had said when Adrien looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"No! No! That's not what I meant! I meant that I bet you're perfect at ice-skating!" Marinette said, trying to save her previous blunder.

"I"m not really sure. I've only been once or twice. Those were with my mother." Adrien said with a small smile. His eyes looked empty as he finished what he was saying.

"Well I'm sure you are!" Alya laughed and pulled Marinette along.

They took the subway to the iceskating rink. Gabriel Agreste had been quite lenient with Adrien, something that surprised all four of them. Alya had questioned it but Adrien had just waved her off. The rink they were heading to had only been built a couple of months ago. It was shaped like a massive dome and they could see teenagers their age heading inside, ice skates clinking as they held them.

The four of them headed inside where music was thumping. The rink was quite large and they could see a couple of people skating already. Some of them looked professional while others like small children clutched onto penguins.

"Looks like I might need one of those." Marinette muttered to herself.

"You will be fine!" Adrien said with a wink as he paid his fee to enter.

The remaining three of them followed suit and headed to the skate hire. They were very heavy as Marinette put them on her feet. It was hard to walk in them as she stood up. Adrien walked towards her. His movements were graceful, almost like a cat's. It was like he wasn't even wearing ice skates.

She was able to balance herself as the two of them made their way onto the ice. Alya and Nino were skating side by side, quite effortlessly.

Marinette took a deep breath as she stepped onto the ice. She started to move one leg forward but felt herself stumble and caught the railing just in time. She felt strong hands on her back that helped to lift her up. Adrien was behind her and smiled./

"I think you might need some help there." He said with a wink.

Marinette just nodded. He skated around in front of her and put his hands out.

"I can remember how to skate, so I'm going to teach you, is that alright?"

"Yes." Marinette nodded and watched as he put one foot in front of each other. He slightly bent his foot out. He almost looked like was gliding.  
"Just copy what I do, okay?" He said with a smile.

Marinette nodded again and started to copy him as they glided around the rink. They both failed to notice a couple behind them beginning to argue.


	2. 2

2

"Louella, this was supposed to be a make up date. Can you just pay me some attention?" The boyfriend sighed. He was a tall man, long limbs that didn't seem to want to stop growing. His hair was in due need of a haircut as it came to rest by his shoulders.

The woman laughed. "No. It's your fault. I didn't want to come ice-skating. This is your idea of fun." The woman was the compete opposite to him, short with a pixie hair cut that suited her black hair.

"My idea of fun? You're the one that wanted to do this!" The man screeched.

Both Marinette and Adrien turned around at that point. The couple were in the middle of a shouting match. Adrien had let go of her hands and she had to use the side rail to balance herself.

"You don't think one of them is going to be akumatized, do you?" Marinette mumbled.

Adrien gritted his teeth. "Too early to say for sure. Chat Noir and Ladybug will save us anyway so need to worry,"

"You're right." She agreed.

He gave a wink and Marinette felt her cheeks flush.

"I say we get back to what we were doing." He said taking hold of her hands again.

"Marinette nodded and watched his feet as he started to glide. They did two full circles of the rink and she felt like she had gotten the positions right.

"Do you want to try on your own?" Adrien asked.

"I suppose." She mumbled.

He let go of her hands and she steadied herself.

She made sure not to look at her feet and started the skating motion. First she put her left foot out and then her right. She wobbled a little but was able to catch her balance. Adrien watched her closely as they did another full circle. Marinette had to rest on the side after though, her feet were beginning to hurt.

"Doesn't this hurt your feet?" She asked.

Adrien shrugged. "A little bit. You're doing well though, Marinette." He gave her a wink.

"Thanks." Marinette said, not meeting his eyes.

"That's it! I'm done!" A voice cried. Marinette and Adrien both turned to see the couple from earlier. They both watched as the woman skated across the rink.

"Louella! Please wait!" The man called. He walked with a small limp but Marinette put it down to the ice-skates being heavy. He followed after her and their voices carried across the whole rink.

"That doesn't look too good." Adrien said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No, hopefully they can sort it out." Marinette then winced as she tried to move her left foot.

"Feet still hurting?"

"Yeah. I may go and rest." Marinette pointed to the seating area. She started to make her way around to it.

"I'll go and join Alya and Nino." Adrien waved to her and he left her.

Once Marinette had sat down, she breathed a sigh of relief. Her feet were really aching from the heavy boots. She took one of them off and stretched her toes.

"Are you having fun?" Tikki flew from out her jacket and gave her smile.

"Yes but keep your voice down Tikki. There are still people around." Marinette looked around. The music was still quite loud and most of the people off the ice were too preoccupied with talking to each other.

"I'll be careful! You actually managed to talk to Adrien properly!" Tikki said with a smile.

"Yeah," Marinette agreed. "I think I was too preoccupied with trying not to fall over."

"Are you going to go back to him?" Tikki said batting her eyelashes.

Marinette laughed. "Maybe but my feet are really hurting. Give it five minutes and I probably will."

She sat talking to Tikki for a while. Once or twice, she looked over to her three friends who looked like they were having a good time. She really wanted to go and join them but her feet were just hurting too much. Another five minutes passed and Adrien came over. He put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him.

"Are you coming back on the ice?"

"If it's with you yes-no, I mean maybe." Marinette stammered as she noticed the gaze he gave her. She felt like he was staring for far too long.

"I'll wait for you-," Adrien never finished his sentence.

"I'm the Arguer! From now on, I will never have to argue with her!" A man's voice shouted. Both of the teenagers looked up to see a man floating in the air. He was wearing a long coat and a large top hat. His hair had turned blue and stuck up in tufts. He looked like he had been electrocuted. He held a large cane.

"Instead people will only ever be able to argue with each other! See how you like it!" He yelled. He started to zap some people. They started to mumble something to each other. Their companions looked shocked.

"Is that the man that was arguing with his girlfriend?"

"Yes but we need to get out of here." Adrien mumbled.

"Yeah." Marinette agreed.

She unbuckled her ice skates and pulled them off as quickly as she could. She slid them across the room. She was now running in just socks.

"Come on, I'll hide you." Adrien muttered.

Before she could object he grabbed her hand and started to lead her towards the changing room. He opened the door and quickly ushered her inside. Luckily there was no-one around. It was just an empty corridor with some lockers.

"Stay here. I'm going to find another place to hide." Adrien said and left.

"But wait, what about you?" Marinette cried too late. That was werid. Why wasn't Adrien hiding with her?

"Marinette! It's time to transform!" Tikki yelled from her left ear. It pulled Marinette out of her thoughts.

"You're right," She shook her head. It could wait til later.

"Tikki, spots on!" She yelled and then felt the familiarity of the transformation as her famous suit surrounded her body. She felt the yo-yo appear and was out of the corridor.

When she ran back into the ice rink, chaos had ensued. Everyone that had come to the ice rink seemed to be arguing with each other.

"This doesn't look good." Marinette said as she eyed Alya and Nino in the middle of a very loud argument. Alya looked like she wanted to rip her hair out.

"No it doesn't M'lady." A familiar voice said and she turned to see Chat Noir leaning on his baton.

His lips were parted in a smile. He picked his baton up and draped his arms across it like he always did.

"Hawkmoth's taken another victim." Ladybug mumbled glancing at the arguing people around them.

"Yes. I believe it was someone arguing. Where do you reckon the akuma could be?"

"Not sure yet. Shall we go and find out?" Ladybug smiled.

Chat smiled again. What he wouldn't do for his Lady.

"We shall." He said with a bow and followed her lead.

She zipped on her yo-yo out of the ice-skating rink with Chat closely behind her. She heard him jumping and then stopping as they landed on a building's roof. They both scanned the initial area, trying to see if they could more arguing people.

"This might be a bit more tricky than usual." Ladybug said as she noticed a taxi driver arguing with some people on the street below them.

"Well you always pull through m'lady. So let's go and put an end to this argument!" Chat Noir cried as he ran on ahead of her.

Ladybug rolled her eyes but found herself having a small smile on her face.

They darted across the rest of the rooftops and watched as people started to point accusations at each other. Drivers were honking their horns at pedestrians. It was total chaos.

"We need to find him quick." She scanned once more and found the floating figure a few streets away. Both of the superheroes started to run towards him. He was pointing his cane at everyone he could see.

Oi! You need to play nice!" Chat Noir called and launched his baton at him.

It knocked the Arguer off balance for a bit but he was able to steady himself.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! So nice of you two to join us!" He laughed whipping his cane in the air and turned to face the the two superheroes. "What a delight it will be to see Paris's famous team arguing!"

"Yeah,I would rather not." Ladybug smirked. She zipped on her yo-yo in a circle. She needed to find out where the akuma could be.

She thought back to the ice-skating rink and when the man had passed her. What could he have had on him? The cane hadn't been there before. She thought back harder and remembered that he had a limp. Did that cane help him walk then?

"Kitty, the akuma is the cane!" She yelled, moving across the street to another building.

Chat Noir laughed. "How do you know that M'lady?"

"Just trust me!" She shouted back.

She was half tempted to use her lucky charm but didn't want to risk it so early in the battle.

The Arguer took aim at Chat Noir a few times and the cat managed to dodge the laser beams once or twice. Ladybug watched as he launched himself. He landed on the man's shoulders.

He managed to restrain him but it wouldn't be long until Arguer broke free.

"M'lady, now would be a good time to use that lucky charm of yours." He said trying to keep his hold on the flying man.

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called as she launched her yo-yo into the air. A small kitchen counter-top landed into her arms.

"What the heck?" She whispered.

Cat Noir jumped off the man and landed next to her. "That's our counter-attack?" He said with a grin.

She inwardly groaned at the pun. She scanned the area and saw a small street corner and looked back at Arguer. All the dots were connecting.

"Come on Kitty, we need your cataclysm!" She shouted as she pulled him by his tail.

"Of course Bugaboo," Chat Noir said and followed her.

"Cataclysm!" He called.

The bubbling power of destruction appeared in his clawed hand.

"We need to gain some height."

Chat Noir nodded and their started their attack on Arguer. They made their way upwards to taller buildings as he tried to zap them a couple of times.

"We need to knock that cane out of his hand. Are you ready?" Chat Noir said.

They both jumped at the Arguer.

"Now!" Ladybug shouted.

She put the countertop in front of them and Chat Noir touched it with his hand. It disintegrated and the bits started to fall on the man. He put his hands up to stop the falling bits but Ladybug snatched his staff out of his hand. Chat Noir did a roll in the air and landed on all fours next to her.

"No!" He shouted as he watched her snap it in half. He landed on the floor and fell to his knees.

Ladybug swung her yo-yo and caught the black butterfly.

"No more evil doing for you, nasty akuma!" She called and then let it go. A white butterfly emerged and flew into the air.

"Bye-Bye little butterfly," She said with a smile. She then said her famous catchphrase.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" And everything went back to normal.

""Pound it!" Chat Noir offered his fist and she copied him.

The man who had been the Arguer looked around stunned.

"What happened? Where am I?" He asked.

Ladybug knelt down and put her hand on him. "You're safe now. Next time I would break up with your girlfriend."

"I was akumatized? I guess it's better if I do, thanks Ladybug." He said with a smile.

He got up and picked his cane. He walked away with a small limp.

Chat Noir was staring at Ladybug with a dopey grin on his face. He wanted to stay in her presence for as long as he could. However fate had other plans. Her earrings and his ring started beeping.

"Woops! Looks like it's time to split, Kitty! See you next time!" She called and off she went flying on her yo-yo through the streets of Paris.

Marinette transformed back to normal in an empty street just in front of the ice-rink. She saw Nino and Alya hugging.

"Guys!" She called.

"Marinette! You're safe!" Alya hugged her. Then she pulled Marinette's shoes out of her bag.

"I think you forgot these."

"Thanks. It was so chaotic. I just wanted to find a safer place to hide." She slipped her shoes back on. Then noticed that someone was missing

Where's Adrien?" She asked.

"No idea. The dude just disappeared!"

"I'm here!" Adrien's voice said from behind her.

Marinette froze up and saw the taller boy standing right behind her. She could already feel herself stuttering without even talking.

"That new akuma was annoying. I can't really remember what happened. I just have a feeling I had a massive argument with Alya." Nino scratched his head, then sighed.

"I didn't see too much off it. I hid." Adrien laughed.

Alya grinned. "I bet it was with Marinette."

"Actually no. I was trying to find a safer place for us two but guess it didn't work out." He said with a shrug.

Marinette turned around. She could only just managed to nod.

"Why did you move Marinette? You should have been safe there." Adrien asked, turning his head to the side.

"Some people came in sharmguing." Marinette mumbled.

"Sharmguing?" Adrien said with an eyebrow raise.

"I meant arguing! I had to leave."

"Come on, I think we've all had too much excitement for one day. It's best we all head home." Alya said, hiding her laugh.

Marinette shot her a death glare before gaining her agreed and started their way home. Adrien's bodyguard picked him up. He waved goodbye to his friends and was driven away.

An hour later, Marinette landed on her bed and Tikki flew right in front of her.

"I can't believe I went ice-skating with Adrien!" She said with a smile.

"You did well Marinette! You also stopped Hawkmoth's new akuma!"

"Well without Chat Noir, I don't think I would have. Can you imagine if we had been hit? I don't know what we would have argued about it. It could have been a disaster." Marinette stood up and went over to her dresser.

"But you didn't! Now let's hope you can talk to Adrien properly tomorrow!" Tikki said with a smile and perched herself on her Marinette's shoulder.

Marinette herself got changed into her pyjamas. Once she was changed, she went up on her balcony. There was a full moon out and she gazed into it. Her thoughts drifted back to Adrien. Why hadn't he hidden with her? Did he not like her? Or had he been telling the truth? She shook her head. It didn't matter now, the akuma attack was over for now. Well until Hawkmoth decided that he was going to go after another victim.


	3. 3

**Japan was amazing, I really want to go back. However daily life is getting in the way now but I did promise the beginning an update at the beginning of month/end of June. I have no idea when the next update is coming so you'll have to bear with me. This chapter feels a bit like filler to me but Adrien is getting curious, maybe he might do some investigating?**

* * *

3

Adrien landed on his bed with a sigh. He had just finished a gruelling piano lesson. His father had been working him hard recently. He wouldn't even let him have a break until he was up to his father's expectations.

Plagg clutched a piece of camembert next to him. He threw it up into the air and swallowed it in one mouthful.

"I still don't know how you can eat so much cheese." Adrien mumbled holding his nose. The smell was unbearable.

Plagg shrugged his shoulders and then went to land in Adrien's hair. He clutched two clumps of it.

"You humans invented it! It's just the right blend of flavours that get my energy back up."

"Whatever you say, Plagg." Adrien agreed with a chuckle as Plagg nestled further into his hair.

He looked up at the ceiling and found his mind wondering back to just a few days ago; Marinette not staying hidden after the Arguer's attack. He didn't know why it bothered him so much. She was smart, resourceful, she knew she would have got hurt so why did she move? He didn't buy her excuse. The more he thought about, the more it plagued him.

"Eurgh." He mumbled.

"What is it now, kid?" Plagg replied. He moved off Adrien's hair and flew right up to his face.

Adrien moved back and swung his long legs off his bed. He rested his arm on his leg.

"It's Marinette," He began.

"What about her?" Plagg winked.

"The fact that she didn't stay hidden when I asked her to."

"Hmm, don't you believe her story? I thought it was pretty convincing." Plagg replied crossing over his small arms.

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "You're being serious?"

"I'm just saying that you're being very curious about her, it's unlike you."

Adrien didn't reply. Instead he groaned and looked to his window. Plagg was right. Maybe he was just thinking about it too much but he had to make sure that she wasn't hiding anything.

"Plagg, claws out!" He called.

"Wait, what are you doin-?" Plagg never finished his sentence. He was sucked into the ring and one transformation later. Chat Noir stood in Adrien's room.

He launched himself out of his open window and launched onto a rooftop. The sun was just beginning to set and it cast the whole of Paris in an orange light. A few street lights had lit up where darkness touched them. Usually Adrien would have stopped to admire the sunset but not this time. He was heading to Marinette's with a sense of urgency.

A couple of minutes later, he landed her balcony. She was leaning on her railing with Alya next to her. His hearing could easily pick up their conversation.

"So what's your plan for the weekend?" Alya asked her.

Marinette sighed. "I"m not sure. I was thinking of making some new designs. I think there's a fashion festival coming up soon."

"Or how about coming over mine again to help with the twins?"Alya laughed.

Marinette joined in. Her laughter was care free. "I've started calling them the troublemakers. How about in the evening then?"

"You'd better keep your word, girl."

Adrien started to move away from his hiding place. He was silent with his movements as he stayed in the shadows. Once he stopped, he could see Marinette much clearer.

She was wearing her pyjamas. They were the same ones she had been wearing when they had been running from his bodyguard. It had only happened a few weeks ago but it felt like it had happened last year.

He watched as Marinette started to wave goodbye to Alya. He didn't really see this side of Marinette very often. Most of the time when she was talking to him, she was either stuttering or saying something completely incomprehensible. Those moments where she had managed to get past her stuttering had been lovely. She could really get a conversation going. Adrien just had to wonder, why did she stutter in front of him so much?

He started to creep out of the shadows. Marinette looked down.

"Chat Noir? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Adrien leaped onto her railing and gave her a smile. "I was just in the area, Princess. Got to make sure there are no akumas around."

"Not with Ladybug tonight then?" Marinette moved away so he could to stand next to her.

"No. I haven't seen her since the last akuma attack." He said with a sigh.

Marinette frowned. "You sound like you miss her."

He nodded. "I do." His words were barely a whisper.

Marinette froze and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll see her soon, Chat Noir."

"I hope so, she means so much to me."

Marinette didn't reply. She was looking away from him but Adrien hadn't noticed.

"I really should be getting home now. I have patrol at the weekend so I'll see her soon. Be good, Princess okay?" Chat Noir said as he launched himself over the rooftops.

He barely caught Marinette's goodbye. Once he was home, he dropped his alter ego and sat in his chair.

"So what did that accomplish?" Plagg questioned.

"Nothing at all. Maybe there is some truth to her story." Adrien mumbled. Yet he hadn't seen anyone else in her hiding place at the time.

"I say you put it to rest and go to bed. I'm going to have another slice of cheese."

"You had one about a hour ago!" Adrien groaned.

"So? I'm hungry!" Plagg moaned. He then went to his cupboard where munching soon commenced.

Adrien's stomach rumbled a couple of seconds later. He wished he had asked Marinette for one of the bakery's delicious treats. He made a mental note to ask her next week at school.

There was a knock on the door. Adrien went over and opened it. Natalie stood there with a clipboard.

"Your dinner is ready, Adrien." She said with a firm nod.

"Thanks, Natalie." Adrien mumbled and followed her downstairs. It was going to be a very lonely dinner.

As he headed down to the dining room, he saw his father watching from up the staircase. He had a frown on his face.

"Father!" Adrien called.

Gabriel Agreste ignored him and disappeared into his study.

"He won't be joining you for dinner." Natalie said ushering Adrien into the dining room.

"Yeah, I figured as much."

* * *

Chat Noir stood waiting on a rooftop for his Lady to show up. It had been a few uneventful days since he had gone to spy on Marinette. To be fair, he had left early, his excitement to see Ladybug was unfathomable.

He heard the familiar zip of a yo-yo and was beside himself when she landed next to him. The sun had gone down a few hours ago and despite Paris's light pollution, a few stars had managed to shine through. However, they were barely visible.

"Hello kitty," Ladybug said with a smile. "Ready for patrol?"

"Of course, m'lady. I'm always ready."

He followed after her as she landed into the street. There were a few people walking around but the streets were mostly quiet.

"Hawkmoth has been unusually silent lately." She mumbled leaning against a wall.

"You don't think he could be planning something do you?" Chat Noir replied standing in front of her.

"I hope not."

"Let's wrap this up quickly, I promised a friend that I would do something for her this weekend. I need to get my work done." Ladybug said.

"Or we could hang out for a bit, get to know each more." Chat Noir said leaning closer to her.

She laughed as she pushed him away. "No chance, kitty. We need to finish patrol and get home."

Chat just gave her a goofy smile and followed her lead.

They patrolled around a few more streets to just to make sure that Paris was quiet.

"Well I think that's us done for tonight." Ladybug said as she stretched her arm and prepared her yo-yo. At least she would have done. If they hadn't had heard screaming from some civilians in the distance.

"I bet you that's an akuma."

"Why is it always at the last minute." Ladybug mumbled as she followed Chat Noir towards the screaming.

When they arrived, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Cars that had been parked were toppled over. Rubble from the buildings was all over the road and it looked like giant scorch marks were burned into the walls opposite of them.

A couple of cars were actually on fire, the smoke had started to rise in the air. It reached Ladybug's eyes and she coughed.

"What happened here?" Chat asked, picking her arm up and pulling her away from the smoke.

"No idea." Ladybug answered back. She looked around to see if she could see any civilians. There was no-one around.

They didn't have to wait long before they heard the sound of footsteps and saw Hawkmoth's latest victim.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir! Have you come to ruin my night sky as well?" The woman growled as she appeared in front of them.

In her hand she held a small telescope. On her head was a long hat, it could almost be described as a wizard's. It was decorated in a pattern of stars and her body was a long nightgown that went straight down to her feet, it was a pale blue.

She started to approach them and smiled.

"Who are you? The sandman?" Chat Noir joked.

The woman growled. "I am Star Gazer! Paris will pay for stealing my night sky."

"You know you could always go to the countryside." Ladybug said with a shrug.

The woman sneered as Hawkmoth's famous butterfly image showed in front of her face.

"It won't be long until you're nothing but dust after I take your miraculous!" She laughed manically and took aim at them. The telescope's lens opened and out came a shooting star that barrelled towards Ladybug.

She didn't have time to react until Chat Noir pushed her out they way and he collapsed on top of her. The shooting landed near them and smoke began to steam from it's hole in the ground.

As the smoke faded, Ladybug looked to see Chat smiling down at her with his goofy smile.

"Can you get off me?" She said with a roll of her eyes.

Chat pulled away and helped her to feet.

"We don't want a scorched bug."

"Or cat," She said with a smirk.

"How dare you! You'll never be a star like me!" The woman cried.

She ran towards one of the nearest street lamps. She pointed the lid at it. The bulb of the street lamp started to flicker and then exploded. Star Gazer's telescope began to glow.

She took aim at both of the superheroes again. This time though they were ready as they jumped behind an overturned car.

"She only has one shot then she has to fill the telescope. If she was a star gazer then the akuma has to be in the telescope." Ladybug said with a smile.

"Lucky charm!" She called and soon enough an object landed into her arms. It was a frying pan.

"I suppose we can knock her out." Chat said with a shrug.

"I'm thinking it's for deflecting her attack." Ladybug commented as she saw the checkered dots appear on the frying pan.

Ladybug whispered into Chat's ear what they needed to do. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up.

"Now we need to make sure she has stars in her eyes!"

"More fighting! Less puns!" Ladybug groaned as they moved back onto the street. Star Gazer started to aim at the two of them again.

The shooting star came barrelling at them and Ladybug put the frying pan in front of them. It deflected the attack but not without knocking her back first.

Star Gazer growled and pointed her telescope at another street lamp.

There was a cry of "Cataclysm!" and the next thing she knew she saw the telescope disintegrate to the ground.

It didn't take long to purify the akuma and to send the butterfly on it's way. Everything was back to normal. Both of the superheroes advised the woman to use the countryside next time she wanted to stargaze. It would have been better for her.

"Pound it." They both said. As soon as they finished what they were saying, their miraculous began to beep.

"Gotta go, kitty-cat! See you next time." Ladybug said with a smile as she zipped into the night on her yo-yo.

Chat watched her go with a sigh. If only she could stay longer.


	4. 4

4

 **Troublemaker is referenced in this chapter.**

* * *

When Jagged Stone had come to visit on his tv show, Marinette supposed it had been good luck that Adrien had invited her to his next photo shoot. Every fibre of her being was telling her to dance in the air. However, this was Adrien Agreste, the beautiful model who would not want to see her being goofy. She had thanked him and had waited for when he would tell her.

She would have never expected two days later for him to be waiting outside the classroom to take her to said photoshoot. However here he currently was smiling down at her with his radiant smile that made her want to melt into a puddle on the floor.

"How about coming to that photoshoot with me then?" He said with a wink.

"What—now? I—I have to," Marinette stammered while her eyes tried to look at anything other than Adrien.

"Come on, it'll be fun! We can always take you home so just come along!"

Marinette had no choice but to be pulled along through the school corridors to the steps outside. Luckily most of the students had gone home so there were only those staying for after school activities. As they got further to the entrance, the more rational side of her really wanted Alya to be with her. She needed her best friend's support. The less rational side, the side who she thought caused her clumsiness and strangeness was jumping on clouds. Adrien! Adrien was taking her to a photoshoot!

She saw his bodyguard's car waiting outside near the steps. He was stood glaring at the two of them.

They both walked to the car and Adrien opened the back door

"Now if you would get in the car, please." He said with a bow.

Marinette froze but quickly shook her head. She got into the car without sparing Adrien a glance. He got into the car too as his bodyguard closed the door behind them.

What followed was the most awkward car ride that Marinette had ever experienced. There was a silence between all of them. She kept glancing at Adrien out of the corner of her eye. He was humming, tapping his ring finger on his knee. He was looking at the car window, his eyes glazed over as if he was in deep in thought.

She didn't realise that she was still staring at him when he turned towards her.

"Marinette?" He said with an eyebrow raise.

Marinette was suddenly brought back to reality.

"Erm-yes. Sorry- I thought I saw-a fly that was landed on your beaut- erm face and-," She stammered, pointing a finger up in the air.

She stopped when Adrien put a hand on her leg. The tomato red was appearing on her face.

"It's okay, you don't need to get worked up over a fly."

He smiled down at her and removed his hand.

"Yeah, sure." She said nodding her head a bit too vicariously.

The rest of the car ride was silent as they drove through Paris. Marinette stared out the window so she wouldn't be tempted to stare at Adrien's face. She could feel Tikki moving around in her clutch bag but didn't pay her any mind.

Another ten minutes later, the car ride came to a halt. Marinette looked at the window to see they had arrived in a park on the outskirts of the city. There was a large crowd of people that had gathered. They all had their phones out and were taking photographs of the car.

"Looks like those fans already want a photoshoot." She mumbled looking at her hands.

"It'll be okay, my bodyguard should move them," Adrien replied. "Look."

Sure enough his bodyguard had gotten out of the car was now moving the fans away. Most of them were young girls around the same age as Marinette. They looked frustrated as they were moved away from the sides

The car door was opened by his bodyguard. He stood at side of the door. Marinette didn't waste any time as she got out of the car. She could see the flashes of their phone cameras going off as Adrien stepped out behind her. They both walked together as they got closer to the park. Marinette could hear screams coming from the fangirls and she wanted to laugh. If she wasn't Adrien's friend, perhaps she would have been there with them.

As they entered the park, she noticed that the grassy area was covered in a large stage. There was different props and backdrops all gathered into the corner. There was also a couple of large cameras that people were in the middle of setting up. Small trailers were pushed to the side and a rack of clothes was also present.

Getting closer to the stage, a small woman came bounding over with a camera in her hand. She had brown hair that had been done up in a braid. Her eyes were the colour of moss and she had a large gap in her teeth but her smile was radiant. She wore a red floral patterned dress that ruffled at the knees and black gladiator sandals on her feet. Marinette recognised both clothing items as belonging to Gabriel Agreste's newest fashion line.

"Ah, Adrien Agreste!" She beamed. She reached out her hand.

Adrien shook it with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Azure."

"Of course it is! I must thank your father for arranging this. I've been wanting to use someone to advertise my products. Your father designs are wonderful- if it wasn't for him supporting us-," She froze and then laughed. "Ah there I am again, rambling! Now come on, we have work to do."

Adrien laughed. "Before we start, is it okay if my friend watches it?" He gestured to Marinette.

Marinette gave Azure a little wave.

"Even better! Two for the prize of one."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Marinette panicked.

Azure didn't answer her, instead she only sat her down on a chair and gave her a parasol to hold. It was frilly and decorated in red spots. Marinette just stared at him.

"Why am I holding a parasol?"

Azure smiled as Adrien started to come towards them. "I design umbrellas! This whole photoshoot is for my parasols and umbrellas!"

"Okay…" Marinette just kept staring at the parasol.

"You will have to get changed though."

"Wait? Why?"

* * *

After an hour of makeup artists prodding her face and hair, she was finally ready for the wardrobe. The makeup artists had taken her raven hair out of her pigtails and let it naturally fall. They had spent about ten minutes curling it off so that it bounced off her shoulders. She hadn't seen the rest of the makeup but it wasn't long until she would be in front of the mirror.

The wardrobe section didn't last very long. The woman who was helping her took one look at her and went to the rack of clothes. She spent a couple of seconds going through them. She handed Marinette a simple white dress and a pair of black slip ons.

"If you would go and get changed in there please." She gestured to one of the caravans.

"Right, okay." Marinette said looking down at the clothes. She was bewildered. First Adrien had whisked her away to his photoshoot and now she was about to take part in said photoshoot.

She headed to one of the trailers and went inside. It was just perfect for a couple of people. At the back was a bathroom with the door open so she could see a cubicle shower and a toilet. Just next to it was a large wall length mirror. There was a fridge to the side where she was standing. There was also a table and chairs.

Marinette took off her clutch bag first and placed it on the table. Tikki flew out of it and sat on her shoulder./p

"Tikki, how did this happen?" She asked staring at the dress. She was scared; scared that she was going to stumble over everything and make it a mess for Adrien.

Tikki could feel her distress as she snuggled closer to her neck. "Don't worry Marinette! Just be yourself that's all you have to do!"

Despite Tikki's cheery voice, Marinette still couldn't stop the worry in her heart. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"If I can be Ladybug, I suppose I can do anything." She told herself with a nod.

"That's the spirit!" Tikki cheered and flew off her shoulder as she began to get changed.

Once Marinette was ready, she looked at herself in the mirror. She let out an 'oh' as she admired the dress. The dress was loose but still managed to look tight at the top. Although it was simple white, the way it cut off at one of her legs was beautiful, it showed off her white skin. The collar was ruffled and it sat across her shoulders so that you could see how slender they were.

She then finally looked at the makeup. They had gone for a natural look that matched the dress. Her eyes were coated in a light pink eyeshadow that you could just make out. The eyeliner that had they used made her eyes pop as there was just a small flick. Her large eyelashes were dabbed in a few lengths of mascara. The rest of the makeup such as the contour was something she wasn't used to, it made her eyes seem even larger than normal. Her freckles had been left so that they more enunciated on her face. The lipstick used was a light shade of pink that matched the eyeshadow.

Her hair also looked good as it flounced off her shoulders.

"Wow, they know what they're doing," Marinette admired herself in the mirror. "Hopefully I don't make a mess of myself."

"You look lovely, Marinette but I have an idea to make it better." Tikki said with a smile. She phased through the door and came back a couple of seconds later.

She flew to the top of Marinette and placed a small flower in her hair. It was a red rose and just completed the whole look.

"Thanks, Tikki. It looks great." Marinette tickled her and she laughed.

"I don't know where I'm going to hide since you can't wear your bag." Tikki said with a frown.

"I know. How about you stay in here? Then if anything happens, I'll come back for you." Marinette said with a wink.

Tikki nodded and watched as Marinette slipped the shoes on. She flew into the clutch bag just in case someone walked in.

Once Marinette was outside, she headed towards where Azure was sitting. She was talking to Adrien who had his back towards them. As she approached them, Azure looked up.

"Wow, you look amazing!" She clapped her hands in excitement.

Adrien turned around and his green eyes widened. His mouth was a little open but he quickly closed and smiled.

"Wow is right." He whispered. He just gazed at her and Marinette could feel a blush forming on her cheeks.

She almost fell onto the floor when she noticed what Adrien was wearing. His hair was the same, styled back in it's usual way except there were a few lose strands on his forehead that had been deliberately placed there. He was wearing a suit, albeit not a formal one. It was more casual. The jacket and pants were black but he wore a green sweater underneath. The colours made his eyes stand out. The forest green that she loved.

"You-you look good." Marinette stammered with a smile.

Adrien winked and put his arm around her. She almost froze but kept her cool.

"Are you ready? I'm happy she's letting you have a go. It will make this photoshoot more fun."

"Me too." Marinette replied as she was handed the parasol. Adrien was given a umbrella with a small cat paw on it. The cat print was green to match the suit.

Marinette couldn't help but stare at the matching parasol and umbrella.

"Are these based on on Ladybug and Chat Noir?" She asked.

Azure nodded. "Yes. They are popular right now, those umbrellas and parasols will sell quickly. Now come on let's get to work!"

She pushed them onto the stage where the backdrops had been set up and started to take photos. The first set of photos were of Marinette and Adrien on their own just holding the umbrella and parasol in different positions. The backdrops kept getting changed and a green screen had come in at some point.

Adrien had almost finished his last batch of photos when Azure pushed Marinette onto stage.

"I think it's time that we put you two together. Now get close you two!"

Marinette could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she got closer to Adrien. She held the parasol to the left of her. Azure had them standing back to back holding the umbrella and parasol behind them.

Azure kept taking photos of them. In each of the photo sets, Adrien and Marinette seemed to be getting closer and closer. In one photo, she had even got the pair of them to hold hands. They were coming to the end of the photoshoot when Azure shot them a knowing smile.

"For the last photo, I want you two to kiss like you're in the rain. Of course I'll edit the rain in but I want you to put the umbrella and parasol on the floor behind you."

"Kiss?" Marinette stammered. She stole a glance at Adrien who was just smiling. He didn't seem to mind.

"Come on, I don't have all day." Azure huffed pointing at the camera.

Marinette took a deep breath. She had to do this. She placed the parasol behind her and started to walk towards Adrien. He put his hands on her shoulders and they both gazed into each other eyes. She realised she didn't want to move. She could stare at his eyes all day. He started to reach down towards her, closing his eyes in the process.

Marinette closed her's too and reached up to kiss. She was ready for the moment when their lips would come crashing down together but it never happened.

What did was the sound of a person panting, running towards Azure. Both Marinette and Adrien opened their eyes to see what was going on.

"Azure! Azure!" The clerk was running with a cellphone in their hand.

Azure rolled her eyes and turned around. "What is it now, Alex?"

"It's your boss." The clerk replied with a grimace.

"Oh," Azure took the phone off him. "Hello?" She answered.

Someone down the other end was ranting and Azure's face welled up in tears. She shook her head and the tears sprouted. She dropped the phone onto the grass and took off running, sobbing and Adrien both exchanged a worried glance.


	5. 5

**I'm so sorry I've been gone for so long. I never planned to gone for this long but I'm back and hopefully updates will be regular again.**

 **X**

5

"I should go talk to her, I wondered what happened." Marinette mumbled starting off into the distance.

Adrien was silent, she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and he seemed to be thinking about something. Marinette nodded and decided. She started to run off into the direction of where Azure had gone off to.

She scanned everywhere and saw Azure sitting on a park bench. Her heard was facing the floor and her whole body was shaking. Marinette took a few steps back but watched as an akuma fluttered near the woman.

It landed on an object that she couldn't see and Hawkmoth's silhouette appeared around her face. He was saying something to her. There was the familiar bubbling and she watched as Azure became transformed.

To be honest, Hawkmoth's designs clearly showed that his creativity wasn't the best. Azure or whatever she was now was dressed head to toe in a checkered suit and was pointing her finger at the ground. Her skin had also become a taint purple.

"Call my work a failure? Let's see how everyone fares when everything fails!" She said with a laugh and started to run off.

Marinette knew it was time to transform so she started to run back towards the trailer and camera. All of the staff were standing around playing with their equipment as she arrived back. She looked at where Adrien had been sitting. He was nowhere to be seen.

She shook her head, what mattered right now was the fact that she needed to get back to Tikki. Marinette took off for the trailer and heard Azure's voice yelling from somewhere behind her. She didn't look back as she heard the crews screams and the sound of sparking electricity.

Marinette dived into the trailer, panting.

"Tikki!" She called and the red Kwami floated out from some clothes that she had been hiding behind in.

"What's the matter Marinette?" She asked, looking at the girl. Her makeup had become a little smeared and her hair was a little windswept.

"I don't have time to explain, Tikki spots on!" Marinette yelled and let the magic wash over her.

As soon as she was in her suit, she ran out onto the trailer and looked at the damage the akuma had started to cause. The set was burnt, pieces of camera were lying everywhere and some of the crew were groaning on the floor.

Ladybug scanned the area looking for any other signs of damage and saw that she had targeted some trees that were starting to wilt. She frowned as she walked over to them and touched the tree bark. It felt so dry. What sort of powers had Hawkmoth given to Azure? She had yelled something about failure so did that mean that everything she touched failed? Or however she used her weapon.

She lost her trail of thought as she heard the sound of a thud from behind her.

"This doesn't look so good M'lady." Chat Noir said as he came to stand next to her. He clutched his baton in one hand and touched a clawed hand to the tree.

"No it isn't so I suggest that we purify this akuma as soon as possible." Ladybug standing with her arms on her hip.

She half expected Chat to slink his arm between hers but to her surprise he stayed back and was looking up at the sky.

"Do you have any idea on what this akuma could be?" He asked and blinked as he looked at her.

Ladybug realised that her hair was still down and in the same style from the photoshoot. Chat Noir was just staring at her.

"Chat?" She asked, her voice quiet.

"Your hair looks beautiful." He said with a whisper but he wasn't looking at her.

"Thanks but Chat, we need to go and find the akuma." She replied and started to run and zip onto her yo-yo.

Chat nodded and followed after her, launching and rising his baton as she swung through Paris's streets.

It didn't take them long to reach an open boulevard where serval bus stops had fallen to the ground, cars had fallen apart so you could see all the parts that held the machine together. They saw the akuma running around the streets. Her hands were gloved and she was running a finger along all the bricks. The buildings were starting to groan and Ladybug knew she had to act fast. She didn't know how long it was going to be before the buildings collapsed and crumbled.

"I think she has power of failure…" Ladybug said to her partners she scanned the area and saw more people running from the scene.

"So if she touches her with that hand of her's, then we're going to fail?" Chat said with a grimace.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Chaton, I really don't want to try out that theory. We need to stop her from using that hand, or at least immobilise it."

"You're right, but first we need so find out if she's got any weakness." Chat sprinted right past her, gripping his baton.

"We need a plan." She yelled to him but the cat was already engaging the akuma.

She watched as the two of them yelled at each other and Chat was careful to dodge the hand. The akuma kept trying to touch his baton.

Ladybug decided at that moment that she needed to help him. She came running and lobbed her yo-yo at the akuma's head. The woman hissed as she was knocked a few feet back.

"Ladybug, I'll make sure you fail this time! Or else my name isn't Failure!"

"The only failure I see around here is you!" Chat yelled slamming into her body with a thud.

The two of them starting up their fighting again and this time her hand landed on his baton. It fell to the floor and Chat realised that he had lost his weapon. He ran back to Ladybug's side as the akuma growled.

"You are also going to become failures!" The akuma yelled and she started to run towards Ladybug.

It was Ladybug's turn to fight, although that didn't stop Chat from helping as he tried to hit her various times. Ladybug figured that they needed to keep her distracted for as long as possible but she wasn't sure.

The two of them were beginning to tire a little bit out but it was quite clear that the akuma was showing little sign of stopping. Ladybug decided to jump up on top of a building and Chat followed her, giving his baton a strained look.

"I think I have a plan Chat but I'm not sure on how we keep her distracted long enough." Ladybug said as she looked at the akuma. She seemed to be looking around the area for where the two heroes had gone.

"I could keep fighting her but with my baton useless I don't know how long I can last." Chat grumbled as he folded his arms. He was like a giant child sometimes.

"Well maybe your Cataclysm will come in use at some point?" Ladybug suggested.

"Who knows." Chat said getting tense as he finally noticed that the akuma or Failure had finally noticed them on top of the building.

"Lucky charm!" Ladybug called and out of her powers of creation came a spotted cloth.

"So that means we defeat her by wrapping her up?" Chat said looking at it.

"Shush." Ladybug replied as she looked around for the dots to click. They were all connecting towards a narrow alleyway.

"Come on Chat, we might need your Cataclysm yet!" She said as she swung on her yo-yo towards it.

Chat followed after and crouched on the rooftop as she landed down below. She whispered something to herself and the two of them were ready.

"I need you to be a distraction Chat! Can you get her attention?" She yelled up to him from the ground.

"Anything for you M'lady!" Chat said with a bow and took off.

She heard yelling from further down the street and a cry of the usual "I'll take your miraculous!". The voices got closer and closer and she hid behind the dustbins that were just located to the side. For all the ways of stopping the akuma; this might have been one of the stupidest ways yet.

As the voices were just above the alleyway, Chat ran past her on all fours and decided to join in her hiding spot.

"What's going on?" He hissed into her ear.

"Just watch." She said.

Ladybug watched as the akuma started to walk down the alleyway towards the pair of them.

"Where are you Chat Noir! I just want to take your miraculous!" She yelled.

Ladybug choose that moment to charge out from the dustbins and to wrap the cloth that was holding around the akuma's hand. The two of them struggled but she managed to keep her hold.

A cry of cataclysm and the paper towel disintegrated and so did the akuma's hand. Or at least what they had thought had been a hand. It must have been a glove as the akuma's hand was still there.

The tainted butterfly came out of the object and Ladybug purified it and sent it on it's way. She cleansed the city and watched as Azure become her normal self. The akumatized item had been a simple white glove which she gripped in her spotted hand. The two heroes also did their victory pose before Ladybug ran over to Azure.

She bent down on one knee as she faced the woman.

"Ladybug?" The woman mumbled.

Ladybug offered her hand and Azure took it.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I'm not so sure, why don't you tell me?" Ladybug said with a smile.

"My boss said that my glove designs were basic and that they might not sell well."

"Well they look nice, maybe if you talked to your boss and did a re0design, she might like them more?" Ladybug suggested.

Azure smiled. "You know maybe matching gloves with my parasols will be a good idea. Thanks Ladybug, I better get back I have a place to be!"

She waved them off and then disappeared.

"What a fight that was." Chat said with an eye roll and he placed his baton back where it belonged.

"Well we should get going. See you next time?" Ladybug said with a smile.

"Well if next time you tell me why your hair is down?" Chat said leaning in closer to his crush.

It was close but it was still a respectful distance that Ladybug was quite surprised at.

"I was in the middle of something with my friend but I should get back, they're probably expecting me." She said as she got her yo-yo off her hip.

"Well I will bid you Adieu, see you soon!" Chat said with a grin and he left.

Ladybug laughed and followed suit. The beeping on her earrings had already begun and so she quickly swung knowing that she needed to get back to the photoshoot before everyone wondered where she had gone off to.

Marinette would never know how she made in time. She choose a large bush that was by a clump trees to let her transformation drop and Tikki lay in her hands. However what she should have done was check behind her where Adrien had dropped his transformation a few moments before.

"Marinette-?" His voice stammered.

Marinette turned around, her heart beat beginning to quicken. No. No. He couldn't have seen.

She hid Tikki behind her back and turned to see Adrien gazing at her with a look that she had never seen before.

"You're Ladybug?" He asked, his voice was quiet and so gentle.

Her worse fear had come true. She was shaking her head. She had always been so careful! But now, Adrien knew her secret.

So Marinette did the only thing she knew that filtered to the front of her mind. She ran.


	6. 6

**Warning: Angst is coming? Also I'm kind of blown away at the response this story has gotten. Thank you for all the reviews, follows and faves. I know I need to go back and edit a few chapters as they are a few mistakes here and there. I do need a BETA to edit for me, so if there is anyone interested if you could just inbox me and I will get back to you as soon as I can.**

6.

Marinette was Ladybug. Marinette was Ladybug. That thought was settling all around him as Adrien lay on his bed staring up at the ceiling. All this time of wondering who the love of his love was and she had been right by his side all along.

How could he have been so blind? The two of them were similar from the deep blue eyes that he could find himself lost in, down to the small freckles dotted on their nose. They were the same. Also when Marinette had not stay hidden at the ice rink! He should have been more vigilant even then.

"You're an idiot." Plagg said floating above him.

Adrien sighed and watched as the Kwami came to land on the foot of his bed.

"For once I think I agree with you." He mumbled putting his hands over his face. He was an idiot for ignoring her for so long.

He should have ran to stop her when he left, but he had been frozen. Frozen by the secret that he knew she wanted to keep. He had left the photo-shoot in a daze unsure of what to do. Coming home, his thoughts had refused to settle.

"So what will you do?" Plagg asked.

Adrien didn't look at him, instead choosing to groan and look back up at the ceiling.

"I don't know Plagg. I've always wanted to find out who Ladybug was but not like this. It feels unfair." He said with a heavy sigh.

He got up and moved to the end of the bed, staring at the barred windows. It was going dark outside and he could make out the lights from the buildings that aligned his house, As the evening came in and overshadowed the day, patrol would start for the two superheroes.

Part of Adrien wondered if he should skip dinner and head to the meeting place early because a thought had emerged in his mind. It was a stupid thought but it had anchored itself and it was refusing to move.

"Adrien?" Plagg asked, sounding unsure this time. It was strange for the Kwami to sound worried. Usually all he cared about was where the next mouthful of cheese was coming from.

"Plagg, I need to tell her I'm Chat Noir." He said, his voice rising with determination. That thought, he had dared to put it into the air.

"Adrien, I don't think that's a good idea." Plagg replied flying to the boy's face.

"I think it is. I found out her secret. She was so adamant that we don't reveal our identities but this means things can change. She deserves to know." He said with a grin.

Marinette. She was so beautiful and he wondered why he had only ever just seen her. She was perfect but then he remembered the way she acted around him. Flustered and scared. _Great._

"Adrien. You need to think this through. You don't know how she feels at the moment." Plagg said looking at the window.

Adrien didn't listen. He knew he should; that Plagg was being the reasonable one for once, but the boy was following his heart.

"I need to find her Plagg." Adrien stood up and started to reach for the remote that opened his way to the outside world.

"Adrien. If you go leave now your Father will wonder where you are. You need to have dinner."

Adrien groaned. This time he listened to Plagg. The kwami was right. His father had scheduled a meal with him tonight. He couldn't miss it. It might be the only time that he saw him.

"Fine." The boy huffed and closed the window.

The meal might have been one of the most agonising that Adrien ever had to sit through. His Father was a very methodical man and liked to keep things to his plans. Whenever the two dined together they would start with a small starter. This could be everything from just a small fruit platter to grand caviar. If his father was in the mood for it.

He sat facing his Father on the other end and stared at the starter meal. Eggs with a small salad. The salad was freshly prepared but the egg stunk. He had never liked eggs. they reminded him too much of cheese. Especially the smell.

He tossed the food around with his fork drawing imaginary circles with on it on his plate. He wanted to slump into his chair but he knew he needed to keep his back straight, facing forward. Just like his Father had always told him. Speaking of his Father, the man was taking a delicate mouthful of the food. Adrien watched as he reached for a napkin and wiped his mouth gently tapping small areas.

His Father regarded him with a stern expression.

"Adrien? Why have you not touched your food?" He asked with a frown.

"I'm not feeling very hungry." Adrien admitted.

HIs Father rested his arms on the table and watched as the boy started to fidget with his ring. He narrowed his eyes.

"If you're not feeling hungry, perhaps you could finish it later. Are you feeling unwell?" The man stood up and started to walk towards the other end of the long table.

He placed his hand on top of Adrien's forehead. His son gasped at the contact but as soon as it was over his Father moved away.

"You do seem a little hot. Natalie will save your food for later. You can retire to your room, meanwhile I have some business to attend to."

With that his Father walked out of the room in his powerful demeanour, arms crossed behind his back. Adrien wanted to cheer. Somehow luck had been on his side for once, which was saying something when he was known for his incredibly strange bad luck. Perhaps it was why he had been chosen to become the holder of the black cat miraculous.

He walked out of the room. He couldn't run. He didn't want to give himself away. He could feel Plagg moving around in his pocket and went he got to his room, the Kwami flew out.

"No time to talk to Plagg, I need to go and talk to her." Adrien said.

As his familiar transformation enveloped him in magic and his senses became sharper, he launched himself into the night.

Chat Noir provided himself on his night vision. Usually he would use his staff to locate where his Lady was but tonight he wasn't thinking straight. Marinette was waiting for him. Or at least he hoped.

He ran along rooftops and scrambled up building walls until he caught and found her sitting, slumped on a rooftop where the windows looked slanted. She was above a windowsill covered in ivy.

He landed in front of her and sat next to her. She turned to him and he saw that she had tears in her eyes.

"Chat, something bad happened today." She said not looking at him. Instead she was just gazing at her knees.

Chat knew that he had to act innocent, no matter how badly he wanted to tell her.

"What do you mean?" He questioned, wanting to reach across and hug her. The only thing he could do was massage his hand.

"When I de-transformed, a friend saw me. He knows I'm Ladybug." She said and let out a small sob into her hands.

Chat placed his hand on his shoulder, he lifted her chin up so their eyes could meet. Tears were coming out of her blue eyes. A jolt of regret went through his whole body. He had done this. He had hurt the girl he loved and made her cry.

Ladybug moved her head away quickly and sniffed.

"I don't know what to do." She said with a whisper.

Chat stood and knew that this was the moment. The moment that he needed to tell her.

"Then let me show you who I am so that you feel better, please." He said and knelt down looking back into the blue eyes like an ocean.

"No. Our identities have to be secret. They are precious Chat, don't let anyone take that away from you." She said, her voice so quiet he was only able to pick it up because of his enhanced hearing.

"But I,"

Ladybug shook her head and this time stood up. She forced a smile on her face despite the tears that were evident in her eyes.

"Chat. You need to keep your identity a secret. Knowing that at least one of us is safe makes me feel better. Promise me that you won't tell me, please."

He sighed. "I promise."

"Thanks Chaton." She said and got her yo-yo off her hip.

"About this friend, are you worried that he might tell someone?" Chat asked, getting his baton off his back.

"I don't think he will. I trust him. It's just that I'm scared of talking to him now. How do I go up to him when he knows my secret?"

He felt like screaming. She could trust Adrien, he was her partner! He loved her. He loved her talent, her willingness to stick up for others and her kindness. Finding out that was Ladybug, the hero who saved them all was just an added birthday present. He just loved her even more now that he knew she was Marinette.

"Maybe you should talk to him. He might be a bit rattled but I'm sure he will trust you M'lady." Chat said with a wink. He needed to keep Chat Noir's act up for now.

"Yes. Come on we should go to do patrol," She turned to him. "But thank you for listening to me."

"You're welcome." Chat said as he followed Ladybug into the streets below.

oo

Adrien landed with a groan onto this bed. He slammed his fist onto the bed.

"Why…" He muttered.

Plagg gave him a slide glance from his position on Adrien's computer. He was currently making his way through a whole ensemble of cheese that he had pulled out of his so called 'cheese cupboard'.

"What will you do now?" Plagg asked through a mouthful of cheese.

It was the second time that Plagg had asked him. This time the circumstances were different.

"How do I know Plagg?" He said with a hiss and then cringed inwardly.

Sometimes he found himself have cat like reactions like that time he had purred at Ladybug. The cat like reactions he assumed would start to get worse, but right now they were only few and far between. His cheeks flushed as he realised he had purred at Marinette.

"Well it would be nice if you didn't hiss at me." Plagg replied with an eye roll.

"It's not exactly my fault that I have cat like behaviours Plagg." If Adrien had fur he was pretty sure it would be bristling.

He heard the Kwami move and the next thing he knew Plagg was hovering in his face staring at him.

"Adrien. You need to go to sleep." Plagg said with a shrug.

Adrien let out a frustrated groan. "How can I sleep when I'm worried? I upset her and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"There is," Plagg said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Adrien asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You're her friend kid. Maybe you should get closer to her, try to become more than 'friends.'" Plagg's grin was widening. It almost looked the cheshire cat's.

"I could…" Adrien trailed off.

He regretted whenever he had called Marinette, 'just a friend'. He wanted to change that as soon as possible.

"Not could, maybe you should change that to will." Plagg said as he floated back to his mountain of cheese.

Adrien lay back onto his bed and felt a little lighter. Marinette was in closer reach. He could help. Help to protect her identity from anyone else. He just wasn't sure how Marinette would feel about that.

He crossed his arms behind his head and decided that he would talk with her. He knew they both needed to talk.


	7. 7

**I wasn't originally going to post this but it's been two months, sorry about that so enjoy this! I'm not uploading for another month or so as I want to finish the final draft, but figured I owed you this. Also I have a tumblr: Ivyneverfallsonadrien. I'll be posting the chapters there first, so if you want the chapters early, go and follow me over there.**

* * *

7

Marinette wanted to panic as she started getting ready for school. Ever since she had met up with Chat Noir the previous night, her fear had gotten more prevalent. It was all well and good when it wasn't his identity on the line but then again she couldn't help be shocked; that he had been willing to throw it away. It had only been with some quick thinking that she had protected him.

"Marinette, you're pacing." Tikki said from her dressing table. She was currently just finishing her breakfast; a giant cookie that Marinette had stole from the bakery when she had gotten in last night.

Marinette heard her but carried on pacing up and down as she pulled her pants on. With one last pace, she stopped and turned to Tikki.

"Tikki, this whole thing is a mess." She said with a sigh.

Tikki frowned. "I know but I don't think Adrien will tell anyone."

The girl shook her head. "Chat Noir said the same thing. What if Adrien does though? Tikki, I really don't think I can face him."

Tikki flew up to her face and put her hand on Marinette's cheek. "You can Marinette, you're Ladybug. You can do anything."

Marinette wanted to take those words and believe in them. She wanted to live by them, let them immerse her whole being so that she could walk through her bedroom door with pride. However they didn't.

She sighed and opened up her bag and let her kwami fly inside with cookie crumbs trailing on the floor.

On the way to school, Marinette was trying to work out how the scenario would go in her head. She would walk into the classroom and sit next to Alya. If Adrien was late then he wouldn't be able to talk to her for the morning so at least she could make up an excuse for avoiding him. Although how could she make up an excuse for being Ladybug? She had dug herself a hole and she was unsure of how she was going to get out of it.

As she started to reach the school steps, a small sliver of hope was riding on the fact that she would get chance to get to the classroom. Of course that hope died when she saw Adrien standing at the top. He was on his own and he looked restless from the way he was tapping his foot.

He looked perfect as normal with the way the sun was shining on his golden hair. He was frowning but any expression would look good on him. Marinette admired him for a second before shaking her hand, her crush would perhaps never leave but she had to get through today.

She took one step up and Adrien seemed to hear the sound. He looked down at her and his frown started to change into a smile. She was used to his normal smile, the way it seemed to radiate sunshine through her entire being but this smile was a little bit different, like the universe was behind it. It was similar to the smile that he had given her yesterday. Again, she thought that she had never seen him smile like that. She wanted to see more of it. Adrien rarely ever smiled.

"Marinette!" He said waving to her. He started to make his way down the steps.

Marinette looked around and saw other students beginning to arrive. She couldn't take off running like she had done yesterday. She had to face her fears, even if that fear was wearing her crush's face.

"Adrien." Marinette greeted as she took another step up.

They met halfway looking each other in the eyes. Adrien's cat eyes softened.

"About yesterday-," He began rubbing his neck.

Marinette almost had to blink. Was Adrien acting shy? She even swore that a blush was appearing on his cheeks.

"We need to talk." She said sternly.

She pointed towards the school and Adrien nodded. Marinette took the lead and they headed through the courtyard to the locker room. Here she knew that it would be empty at least for ten minutes. It would give them the chance to sort out whatever this mess was that Marinette had gotten herself into.

"I don't know where to begin. You're Ladybug; Marinette! You do all that amazing work and save Paris almost every day." Adrien said in awe.

"I'm not! You sound like Chat Noir." She mumbled.

She didn't notice the way he tensed up at that.

"Marinette," Adrien said but the girl didn't look at him. "I want to help you. Please tell me how I can help."

Marinette clutched her arm and shook her head. "You must not tell everyone. If word was to get out, Hawkmoth would probably try to use you to get to me, or any of my friends." She looked at the floor and clenched her fists as she took a steady breath. "Adrien, you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone."

She still wouldn't look him in the eyes. She felt his hand touch her shoulder and that did it. His face was a lot closer than she would like. She moved away from him but he was still smiling.

"You can trust me." He squeezed her shoulder and shot her that sunshine smile again.

Marinette nodded. "We should get to class."

He opened the locker room door. "After you, M'la-, Marinette." He corrected himself.

Marinette narrowed her eyes then just shook her head.

"Thanks." She said.

They walked to the classroom together where Marinette could see Alya laughing at something that Nino had said. As the two of them got closer, Alya waved over to them.

"Arriving together now are we?" She said with a laugh.

"I just had to ask Marinette something." Adrien said politely as he came to stand in the group of four.

Marinette shot him a quick glance but not before he gave her a wink. Alya; sharp as always noticed.

"Oh now did we? What exactly did you ask her?" Alya's words were drawled out as if she was trying to seduce him.

"We were just talking about the photoshoot." Marinette quickly mumbled but Alya latched onto the last word.

"Photoshoot? What photoshoot?" She walked closer to Marinette and whispered into her ear, "Was it some sort of date?"

"No it wasn't a date." She let out a little too loudly.

Adrien and Nino turned to them both. Nino started laughing but Adrien was playing with his foot. There was a moment before the blonde spoke.

"It wasn't a date." He mumbled but only Marinette heard it.

"Yeah, yeah." Alya waved but she was grinning from ear to ear.

As the bell rang for them to take their seats, Marinette could feel Tikki wrestling around in her bag but she didn't know whether the kwami wanted her or was just fidgeting in general. As she took her seat behind Adrien and opened the bag up a little. She saw Tikki peeking an eye out at Adrien and then went back into the crevice of the bag.

The morning passed quickly in a blur, the sound of tablets shutting down was soon the indication of lunch approaching. Alya, who had been texting someone on her phone for the second half of the lesson, finally looked away.

"Where are you planning to go for lunch?" Alya said standing up.

"I was thinking about going home. There's some stuff that I need to do." Marinette asked as she put her bag on.

"That's perfect! I can have lunch with Nino. You should invite Adrien, see if he wants to go with you." Alya whispered.

Marinette looked to Adrien who was just gathering his things and laughing at something Nino had said.

"Alya, he probably wants to go home and besides…" Marinette trailed off.

Nope. She couldn't be spilling her secret (again), especially when Alya had always wanted to know who was underneath Ladybug's mask. Ever since Alya had become Rena Rouge she had stopped talking about Ladybug's identity but there was a part of Marinette that was pretty sure her best friend still desperately wanted to know.

"You're going to spend time with him," Alya put her hand on her hip. "Take the opportunity now. I'm giving it to you, but you will have to pay me back later."

"What sort of payback?"

Alya touched both of Marinette's shoulders.

"You need to tell me all about yesterday. You're sleeping on some major gossip, girl."

Marinette laughed. "It's not exactly gossip."

"It is! I wanna hear all about it later, now go on!" She gave Marinette a little push forward towards the steps.

Marinette walked down them and started to to approach the door. Adrien stopped her halfway. He bit his lip before nodding with affirmation.

"Marinette, I was just wondering..would you want to grab some lunch?"

"I- I'm going home today…," Marinette stuttered out. Would talking to him get any easier? Although he knew her secret now, she think that might have made her stuttering much worse.

"Oh, maybe I could join you?" He said with a shrug.

Marinette was suddenly reminded of all pictures on the walls. Yes, he had seen them but the ones underneath her bed and in her wardrobe; they were all still there. Although she wasn't quite sure why he would go rooting through her wardrobe, she couldn't help the thought running through her mind.

"Would your father be okay with it?" She said tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

Adrien went rigid and he forced a smile. "I can talk to him about it but I'm not sure."

She watched as he started to text on his phone. He looked sad looking at the screen before he shook his hand and quickly typed out a message. Half a minute later, he thrust his phone back into his pocket and turned back to her.

"Shall we go? I texted the gorilla to say I was staying at school. This way I can go."

Marinette nodded, her cheeks turning scarlet red. Adrien had lied for her, she wasn't sure how to think about that exactly.

They made their way to the bakery in an awkward silence. Marinette occasionally sent a glance over to Adrien. He was looking ahead, again with that beautiful smile. When she was looking away, she was pretty sure that he was looking at her.

Adrien had never acted like this before. She had to wonder if he was a massive fan of Ladybug. She didn't want the attention but Adrien; he was her friend before he was anything else and she would be a friend to him the best that she could be. Although she wanted to change that but she didn't think she would be ever able to do that.

There was a small queue out of the bakery as they arrived. Some of the regulars were here, just standing by the door. They greeted Marinette as she slipped through the bakery door. Adrien followed her with a small frown.

The bell rang and her mother looked up and blinked when she saw Adrien.

"You've brought Adrien home?" Sabine said as she bent down to the stove and placed the next batch of cookies in the oven.

"He wanted to come with me." Marinette answered truthfully.

Sabine smiled and then pointed to a brown paper bag.

"As you can see I'm quite busy but your lunch is there, you can always share a croissant with him." She winked at Adrien.

Marinette didn't look at him but just quickly grabbed the bag and rushed into the lounge. She heard his footsteps enter after her.

"I'm sorry about my Mom." She said with a laugh and turned around.

Adrien's cheeks were a little red but he was looking at her fondly.

"It's okay! I've met her before, she's nice. I wish you could have met my Mom. She was always looking out for me." Adrien replied looking at her bookcase.

"I'm sure she was." Marinette headed off to the sofa and sat down. Adrien sat down next to her.

"Croissant?" She offered grabbing one out of the bag.

Adrien took it and gave it a delicate bite. He finished swallowing. "These are really good, your family always make the best pastries."

Marinette smiled, "I'm guessing you've had them before?"

"Yes, although only on special occasions because of my father's strict 'diet' plan." Adrien's shoulders dropped and he sighed, looking at the carpet and trying to study the interesting patterns.

Marinette bit her lip and got another croissant out of the bag. She held it in front of Adrien's face. He looked up and turned to her.

"For me?"

She nodded. "Yes, you can have as many as you want. I can eat them whenever I want."

Adrien waited until he had finished his first one and dusted off the bits of pastry. He took another bite and it was like stars were appearing in his eyes.

"I wish…" Marinette heard him say through a few mouthfuls but he wasn't talking to her. She had to wonder; who on earth was he talking to?

After he had finished, he looked at her but he didn't make any comment on what he had just said. He was giving Marinette a lovesick puppy look again. Marinette tensed. She was sure of it, he was a Ladybug fanboy. Just her luck she supposed.

She didn't want to ask him why he wanted to spend so much time with her but she would give it a few weeks to see what would happen. If she had a few weeks with the way Hawkmoth had been acting lately with the amount of akumas he had been sending. Perhaps the man was getting desperate.

The two of them talked for a little while, mostly about the new Megastrike coming out. Apart from the occasional stutter from Marinette, it just felt like two friends hanging out but Marinette knew she would have to talk about her identity again. She just had to make sure, she didn't want Adrien getting hurt.

"Adrien. Earlier you said you wanted to help me as Ladybug?" Marinette started.

"Yes. You're important Marinette, you're Ladybug. I know earlier you said that you just wanted me to not to tell your secret, but there must be something else I can help with." She heard Adrien move closer.

"I have superpowers and you don't but I don't want you helping me. I don't want you getting hurt." Marinette looked up and Adrien was almost in her face.

She backed away quickly, her heart racing in her chest. She heard Adrien shift and then sigh on the other end of the sofa.

"I won't Marinette, but you're Ladybug! That's just amazing..." He complimented her.

Marinette shook her head. "I never wanted anyone to find out, ever. It's hard for me, okay?" She gripped the sofa. "I'm just Marinette and that's how I want to be seen."

She never head Adrien's answer as her father burst through the door.

"I hear my daughter brought a friend home!" He announced and smiled down at the two flustered teenagers. "Did I interrupt something?"

"No, Dad. We were just heading back to school."

Adrien nodded and got up. "Thanks for the croissants." He said as they headed outside with their school bags.

Back on the streets of Paris, Marinette stopped. Adrien did the same as her, like the two of them were in sync.

"Adrien, I know I can trust you," She said shyly, "But please be careful. Like I said before I don't want you getting into danger."

Adrien took a step closer and Marinette found herself taking another step back. Why did he want to be so close to her?

"I will." He whispered.

It was a promise that the two of the made on that normal day. A promise between friends but promises are made to be broken.


	8. 8

**I did say I would be back around a month's time. I've only wrote up to chapter 13 but I'm planning to finish it over these next few weeks while I have a few weeks off. We're moving into an new arc in the story so I hope you enjoy.**

 **-m-m-m-**

8

The next week was slow. With no Hawkmoth sending out akumas, it was just a normal school week for Marinette, or at least as normal as it was now. Adrien had tried to spend as much time with her as possible but it turned out that was sometimes quite hard. The reason for this was because, Chloe had practically been hanging off him.

Even now when the lesson was about to begin, she was hovering over his desk. She hadn't heard what they had been talking about but judging from the way Chloe was in his face. It couldn't be anything good.

Adrien looked uncomfortable but nodded his head. Marinette sighed. She had seen enough.

She wished she could talk to Alya but her friend was currently sick. She had told her on the phone the previous night, that she had come down with a cold the night before and didn't want to give it to everyone.

Marinette started to daydream as she looked on ahead until a envelope was thrust under her nose.

"Take it before I rip it up." Chloe's voice drawled.

Marinette took it quickly and saw her name had been written in some very neat calligraphy, the first letter of her name swooped.

"What is this?" She asked looking at Chloe.

The blonde girl rolled her eyes. "What does it look like? It's a invitation to my birthday party."

She tossed her ponytail and shot Marinette a smug smile.

"I get that but why do I have one?" Marinette said holding it carefully as if the thing was going to explode in her face.

"Dupain-Cheng, are you actually that dense? You're invited. As well as the whole class." Chloe muttered.

Marinette saw Sabrina by the blonde girl's side writing down everything in a notebook as if everything Chloe was saying was a masterpiece.

"And what's brought this amazing spout of generosity?" Marinette asked with a frown.

"If you must know, Adrien asked. He asked for everyone. I'm only doing this for him, so you'd better be thankful." She tutted and clicked her fingers for Sabrina to follow.

The two of them took their seats and Marinette opened the invitation. It was strange for Chloe to go for an old fashioned method instead her phone. She supposed that Chloe had wanted to make this special. Pulling the sheet of paper out, she saw that it was written in the same calligraphy

 _Marinette Dupain-Cheng,_

 _You are invited to Madame Chloe Bourgeois fourteenth birthday celebration on the 15th. Please come along to the Grand Paris Hotel._

The 15th. That would be next week. She had to stop herself from laughing at the Madame bit. She wouldn't have thought of Chloe as a 'Madame' at all.

She slipped the invitation back inside the envelope and pocketed it. Just out of curiosity, she looked to the other side of the classroom at Chloe's seat. Chloe was applying her lipstick and using Sabrina's mirror.

Marinette sighed and turned to the front. She really didn't want to go to her party because this was _Chloe._ Her last party had been a little bit of a disaster. Marinette had only gone last time because of Adrien and this time he had asked for the whole class to go, she didn't really have a choice this time. A part of him knew that she still would have gone if he was going

Before the lesson would begin, she texted Alya about the party because she needed to talk to someone about it. As she put her phone away, Miss Bustier walked in and clapped for everyone to take their seats.

Nino came in and fist-bumped Adrien before settling down and turning their attention to their teacher.

"Now class as you know we've been studying fairy tales," There was a groan from a few students at the back.

"Ivan, you need to listen, not moan." Miss Bustier said with a small chuckle.

Ivan sat up and nodded his head quickly.

"We're going to start studying Grimm's Fairy Tales and how the originals have changed over time. We're going to do in this in pairs as I want one of you to go through the books and compare where the changes have been made."

It was partner work today then. Marinette gulped as she looked at Alya's empty seat. Her friend really had chosen a terrible day to have gotten ill. She quickly looked around the classroom to see that everyone already had a partner. She didn't know what she was going to do.

"Miss Bustier! Marinette has no partner!" Chloe burst out laughing, pointing at the empty seat beside her.

Marinette felt herself going red. Everyone in the classroom now was looking at her. Adrien and Nino had turned their heads as well.

"Alya is out sick today then," Miss Bustier scanned the classroom looking at all the spare seats.

Adrien quickly shot his hand up. "Miss Bustier, Marinette could work with Nino and I. She's right behind us, so all we have to do is turn around. I can share one of the books with her." Adrien offered.

Her heart felt like it did a somersault in the end, Adrien had just saved her from working with someone and she had feeling that someone might have been Chloe.

Miss Bustier smiled. "Well okay Adrien, I'll let you do that. It would make it easier for Marinette."

With the partners decided, several books were handed out. The first book was a more recent set of fairy tales, it was light with a princess adorned in an modern dress that might have been seen in an animated movie. It was this book that Marinette had gotten. She quickly admired the purple dress, she would have loved to design a dress one day but at the moment she was just stuck making simple things like scarves and hats.

Adrien and Nino shifted around so that they were facing her. She noticed the other book that they had to read through clutched in Nino's hand. It looked a little older and reminded her of the ancient spellbook that she had found quite a while ago. She still wondered how Adrien had gotten hold of it.

That thought was soon forgotten though as Adrien smiled at her.

"So where should we start?" He asked scanning over the contents of the page.

Marinette went wide eyed. Why was he so close again! Despite herself Marinette moved closer so that she was kneeling on the bench and also read the contents page.

"Maybe we should start with Rapunzel?" Marinette pointed at the middle of the page.

"Good choice, let's see if she's willing to let her hair down." Adrien joked.

Marinette let out a startled laugh. Not once had she actually expected him to make a joke and a very terrible one at that. Nino was frowning.

"Adrien, I love your sense of humour as much as the next guy but that was just terrible." Nino said with a slight laugh.

Adrien gave a sheepish smile that didn't really belong on him, if anyone she would have thought that smile should have belonged to Chat Noir. She shook her head, she could not be thinking of said partner right now.

For the next twenty minutes or so the teenagers were deep at work. They had highlighted the differences that they found when they compared both books. They were now just going through the final chapter and Marinette felt herself staring at Adrien's golden hand. Her eyes focused on his slender fingers. She wondered what it would be like to hold it.

"Marinette, are you feeling okay?" She heard Adrien's voice and then realised she had been staring at his hand for a while.

She laughed hysterically, sounding perfectly sane. "I'm fine! I'm fine, not just-," She managed to stop herself from speaking.

Was she fine? She sounded like she had something wrong with her. She took a deep breath and noticed that Adrien's cheeks had turned a slight hue of red.

"You were looking very closely at my hand." He said.

"I was just daydreaming," Marinette said quickly. "We should carry on our assignment."

"Well before that. I'm guessing you've heard about Chloe's party?" Nino said to them as he turned around showing the golden invitation.

"Yes, she gave me one of those too." Marinette replied with a shrug.

"I assume she told you about me wanting to invite everyone else in class." Adrien said opening up another story in the book so that it looked like that they were doing work.

"Yes. I know it's stupid but I didn't want to go until I heard everybody else was going." She said with a sigh and rested her head on her hands as she gazed at the two boys.

"Chloe's party are usually pretty good. A couple of years ago, she got one of her favourite singers for her tenth birthday. It was a bit of a mess when she wouldn't stop clinging to that singer." Adrien recalled with a chuckle.

Marinette didn't reply. It was easy to forget that Adrien was rich like Chloe. The pair of them had a history together. Although the two of them were complete polar opposites, they had a friendship that she would never be able to get her head around.

"Do you think this one will be good?" She said quietly looking at the book in front of her.

"Yes, especially if you're there." Adrien's voice was so quiet but Marinette looked at him, blinking a couple of times.

Nino laughed and nudged his best friend. "You're being bold today dude! What's brought this on exactly?

"Let's just say I've realised something." Adrien responded looking back at Marinette and gazing at her with his beautiful eyes.

Marinette was pretty sure she could feel her soul leaving her body. What did Adrien actually mean? Realised what? He had always complimented her but they had been just friends before. They were still friends, even though Adrien seemed to be now showing a strange obsession with her. It made her sad that he just kept seeing her as Ladybug as she had never wanted it to be like that.

"Realised what?" Chloe's voice snapped.

Marinette blinked as she saw Chloe standing by their desk. She hadn't heard the girl walk over.

"Marinette, Chloe." Adrien replied, being completely honest.

"Realising how terrible she is?" Chloe laughed. She expected Adrien to just laugh alongside her but the boy was frowning.

"No. I've realised how she's the most amazing person I know." He said.

Marinette gulped. She wanted him to stop, before she permanently became a tomato.

Chloe just rolled her eyes, not letting what he had said affect her.

"Well I'll tell you who's more amazing, Ladybug! Daddy said he's going to try and get her to come. I think she will, she's my best friend. I've helped her like a dozen of times this year."

Everyone watched as Chloe pulled out another invitation. This one was special however as it was decorated in black spots and had a tag on the end. It also looked quite bulky. Whatever it contained must have been something quite special.

"Look, Adrikins! I can't wait to give it to her! She's going to be so excited, she is my best friend after all." Chloe said with a smug smile that spread from cheek to cheek.

It was like Chloe had given herself a pat on the back. With a sigh, Marinette realised that Ladybug would have to go. As much as she didn't like Chloe, the blonde was right. Chloe had helped Ladybug a few times and if the Mayor of Paris was going out of his to find Ladybug, then she really had no choice in the matter.

Marinette saw Adrien looking at her with wide eyes. She already knew what the expression meant. How were Marinette and Ladybug supposed to show up at the same party? This was going to be tricky.


	9. 9

**Believe it or not, this was actually one of my favourite chapters to write.**

* * *

9

It was the day before Chloe's party and Marinette still hadn't found a solution to her problem. Chloe's invitation had managed to find Ladybug on a day where they had to rescue from the mayor from an akuma victim. He had practically shoved in into her hand and she of course couldn't say no.

Marinette was now looking at the two invitations side by side. It was clear that the Ladybug invitation had more effort put into it. It was written in Chloe's handwriting and was decorated in little love hearts. Chloe had also stuck on ladybug stickers, ones that had giant cartoon faces and were dancing together.

She sighed and picked up the letter. What was she going to do?

"Tikki. This is a mess." She muttered to her Kwami who had just floated over to look at the stickers.

"Well, you should just go as Marinette and Ladybug could appear later." Tikki suggested with a shrug.

The raven haired girl frowned. She was pretty sure Tikki had already suggested that. The only problem was that what if Chloe wanted the two together. It was such a risk and she wasn't sure she was going to pull it off.

"I guess the only option is that." Marinette sighed resting her heads in her hands.

"You'll be fine!" Tikki said flying up to her cheek and hugging it.

Marinette smiled and stroked the top of Tikki's head.

"Thanks Tikki, you always know how to cheer me up."

Before Tikki could reply back, the hatch to Marinette's room opened with a loud thud. Tikki immediately fled and Alya entered the room.

"Girl! I've got news for you." She said with a smirk.

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "Other than you bursting into my room with no warning?"

"Apart from that," Alya replied chuckling. "Nino said that Adrien wanted to take you to Chloe's party!"

Marinette blinked twice. "Wait, what?"

Alya rolled her eyes and then repeated slowly. "Adrien, the love of your life, your darling, wants to take you to Chloe's party."

The words finally sunk in and Marinette let out a noise that was halfway between a squeak and a scream. Adrien wanted to take her to Chloe's party! She was pretty sure that she was already turning red.

"But how does Nino know that?" Marinette blurted out and then immediately felt stupid. Why did anything to do with Adrien make her feel stupid.

Alya laughed. "Because they're best friends and must have been talking about it. Now we need to find you a dress to wear and fast."

"A dress?" Marinette stuttered out.

There was a day to go before Chloe's party! All she had been thinking about was how Ladybug was going to show that she hadn't even thought about what she was going to wear for it.

"Don't tell me that Miss Fashion Designer doesn't have a dress lying around." Alya put a hand on her hip.

"No." Marinette tensed her whole body and looked at the floor.

"You must have something," Alya reached for one of Marinette's sketchbooks on the desk and began to flick through it. She stopped when she saw the last page. It was the outline of a small dress and tapped it. "This is cute, why haven't you designed it?"

Marinette looked at the design in the book. It was pretty old, one that she might have done the previous year. The dress had a few ruffles on the bottom but on the top, there were eraser marks.

"That design is unfinished." Marinette said with a sigh.

She watched as Alya came over to her chair and shook her head.

"The Marinette I know is stubborn and wouldn't give up. You need to design this dress!" Alya hit the book and gave it to Marinette.

Marinette took it off her and looked at the design again. It was simple, yes but she could make it work with a few tweaks here and there.

She sighed. "Alya, a dress like this would take way too long. We have a day until Chloe's party. I'm better just buying something tomorrow."

"Would it be possible if you have some help?" Alya suggested.

Marinette thought it over for a second. "Maybe, I might be able to design something. If I worked over it, I might have something for tomorrow night."

"Then I'm going to help you." Alya said and pulled Marinette out of the chair.

Marinette stumbled before catching herself on the desk. "Alya, I don't know if I can do this."

"Nonsense Marinette, I'll sleep over tonight and by this time tomorrow, you're going to have a beautiful dress." Alya said as she started to move the pillows off the chaise lounge.

"If I can make it on time. I bet Chloe has a _beautiful_ dress." Marinette muttered.

Alya put her hands on her best friend's shoulders for support. "Your dress is going to be handmade, better than anything Chloe is going to wear. You are going to dazzle Adrien."

Marinette nodded and forced a smile on her face. Alya was right, maybe if she made the dress, it might be better than Chloe's. She seriously doubted it though. It also left the question about Adrien. His adoration with Ladybug might have made whatever she wore dazzle him.

Shaking her head, Marinette took her old sketchbook out and put it out on the desk. She grabbed her chair and moved up. Alya copied her and sat next to her on her spare chair. It was time to get to work.

The first thing to do was to revamp her design, Marinette quickly got her new sketch book and made an outline of the dress before sketching the frills and the overall look that she wanted.

Alya moved over to her computer and starting playing some old romantic pop songs that she had quickly searched for.

"Really, Alya?" Marinette said with a laugh.

Alya put her feet up on the desk and nodded her head. "Yes, music helps the creative soul so just go with the flow."

"I think you've been spending too much time with Nino." Marinette teased.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment!"

Marinette laughed and then started to work. As much as she had teased Alya, it did help to have music blasting in the background. She started to get quite focused and the daylight dimmed outside her window. About half an hour later, it was dark and Marinette finally pulled away from her book.

"It's done!" She announced.

Alya moved and stared down at the sketch. "Wow. Marinette, That might be be the best thing you've ever designed."

Marinette smiled but it quickly disappeared. "Designed but not made. Alya, do you really think we can make it on time?"

Alya sighed. "Marinette, do we have to go through this again? Yes, we can! Now come on let's get that fabric!"

Marinette stood up and went over to one of her drawers that she kept at the back of her room. It was near her mannequin which she was going to use to actually build the dress. She got a few rolls of fabric and moved back towards it.

Alya had gone to her computer and had changed the songs to some Jagged Stone. It made Marinette want to get up and dance but she couldn't, she had a dress to make.

"I need my sewing kit, I'm going to work on the bottom piece first." Marinette said.

She made sure to clear her desk of any clutter. She needed to be focused.

The first thing she did was lay out the fabric she had chosen. It was purple, a soft and light colour that she wanted the dress to be at the bottom. She outlined the piece, using a few pins to hold in into place. Alya brought her sewing machine over and Marinette began the first piece.

It was a long and slow process. Twice, Marinette cut in the wrong sewing positions and she had to start again. She kept her calm. Although Alya knew nothing about dress making, she helped her hold the material and to make sure the cuts were neat.

Downstairs, Marinette could hear her parents heading off to bed and knew that she wouldn't be getting any sleep. She yawned a few times but she kept going. She had to finish the bottom piece. With Jagged Stone's music changing to his older songs, she still worked. Worked and worked until the clock came up to midnight.

"The first piece is done!" Marinette announced pulling herself away and looking at her handiwork.

Alya let out a small whistle. "Wow. So I'm guessing we're moving on to the top part next?"

Marinette nodded, knowing full well that the work was not over yet.

She put the bottom piece around the mannequin and made sure it fit right. The next piece would be the body and then she could finally put the two together. She could only hope that the dress would be completed before the party.

As she started to work on the body piece, her hands began to cramp and she stopped. She would need a rest.

"Hands hurting?" Alya said leaning on her desk.

"Guess all this hard work is tough." Marinette replied, resting her hands on top of her thighs.

"Maybe we should take a break?" Alya suggested, pointing to the tv. Marinette nodded and put down her kit.

"I suppose we could watch a little bit of a movie?" Marinette replied, getting up.

"You know, you just read my mind."

She was worried that she was going to fall asleep but they got some cushions from her bed and lay them on the floor and Alya inserted a dvd into the disk player. It switched on and displayed an old black and white movie.

"Alya, what is this?" Marinette asked.

"A pretty old movie that my Mum showed me. The two lovers-," Marinette put her hand over Alya's mouth.

"If we're watching this together, I don't want any spoilers." Marinette said, pulling away from Alya.

"Okay, no spoilers but in exchange you have to watch the whole thing."

Marinette frowned. "Alya, I was only thinking an hour. I need to get back to making this dress."

"The movie is only an hour and a half! Now get ready to have fun!" Alya said, making herself comfortable on the pillow.

The two of them began to watch the movie. It was set in Paris in the early 1940's when the Nazi's began to invade. Marinette found herself becoming invested in the storyline as the secret alliance began to fight back. Halfway through the movie, the heroine had to leave to protect her family and the man she loved. The parting scene between the lovers broke Marinette's heart, and it was the final letter that he sent her that made her cry. He had sent a poppy with said letter and then that gave her an idea for another thing for the dress.

She turned to Alya as the credits began to roll on the screen and realised that her best friend was snoring away.

She chuckled softly to herself. "So much for helping me."

Marinette made sure that she put a blanket over Alya so that she was warm enough and then started to get back to work with her sewing. She hoped that the noise wouldn't wake her up.

Tikki came out of her hiding place and flew to Marinette.

"You're still making that dress?"

"Yes Tikki, Chloe's party is tomorrow. It may take the rest of the night but like Alya said, I'm sure I can make it."

Marinette wanted to convince herself with those words.

Tikki sat on her shoulder as Marinette worked into the night. Alya stayed sound asleep through the sounds of machinery and fabric ruffling. Marinette could feel her eyes getting heavier as she worked but she forced them open.

In fact, it wasn't until the early hours of the morning when dawn was approaching that she was finished. Her eyes were very heavy now and she was pretty sure that black circles had started to develop but she just needed to add the finishing touch. Then it would all be worth it. She picked up the material she needed and walked over to the dress.

Her footsteps felt like she was drowning as she walked. Her whole body was screaming with exhaustion. She just needed to get there, that's all she needed. Whether she got there or not, Marinette didn't remember as her exhaustion finally took her some moments later.

* * *

"Marinette! Wake up!" Marinette felt herself being shaken. She moaned and then turned over.

"Not now." She muttered.

"Marinette!" She heard again and this time she forced her eyes open.

What she found was Alya grinning at her from ear to ear. Her best friend looked a little rough from sleeping on the floor all night. Her clothes were quite rumpled and hair was sticking everywhere.

"What?" Marinette asked sleepily, rubbing some sleep out of her eye. She gave a yawn before looking back at her best friend.

"You finished the dress." Alya pointed at the mannequin and Marinette finally looked at her dress with clear eyes.

Somehow she had actually managed to put the finishing touches on the dress in her sleep deprived state.

"Wow." Marinette muttered underneath her breath as she admired her own handiwork.

"See I told you, you had it in you Marinette." Alya patted her best friend on the back before pulling her into a very tight hug.

"Alya, I can't breathe!" Marinette stumbled out.

Alya let go and then smiled at her friend.

"You should be proud of yourself! You made something great!"

"Yes but I want to go back to sleep." Marinette said with another yawn and then she noticed the time on her clock. It was two in the afternoon. Chloe's party was due to start in two hours time.

"That's the time?" Marinette panicked.

"Yes which is why I woke you up," Alya replied calmly. "However you need to have something to eat first before we start getting ready." She thrust a leek pie underneath Marinette's nose.

The aroma filled the raven haired girls nostrils and her stomach rumbled.

"I could do with some food."

They shared the pie between them. Marinette wolfed her's down. Her parents were probably hard at work in the bakery and had made this for her lunch. She made a mental note to thank them later. They didn't need to know about her all nighter though.

"We should start getting ready." Marinette said dusting the crumbs off her jeans. She wanted a shower first, she had not got changed in twenty four hours and she felt gross.

"Yes! I'm so excited."

"Did you bring all your things with you?" Marinette said as she started to head towards her bathroom.

"Yes and Marinette, that dress is gorgeous. I think it won't just sweep Adrien off his feet, it might just sweep everyone there off their feet as well."


	10. 10

**We're halfway through this fic now. Also we finally get to see what that dress looks like. If you notice any mistakes, please tell me. I'm posting this at one in the morning, so I've probably missed a few typos. Just a reminder that I do have a tumblr and hopefully the remaining chapters will be put on there later on this month. It's ivyneverfallsonadrien.**

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10

Marinette pulled her coat tighter around her as she stared up at the looming hotel. She sighed, why was she waiting out in the cold again? She moved along to the entrance so that she could the warmth radiating from the building. When the doors kept opening, she could hear the music and wondered what fun people were having as she waited for Adrien.

She had been a little disappointed when it had just been Nino who had shown up at the door. He had taken Alya by the hand, quickly explained about Adrien running late. She was used to him not showing up but she still felt hurt. The only upside about the whole ordeal was that Nino's parents had been willing to give the three of them a lift to the hotel.

When they had arrived , Alya had tried to convince Marinette to go inside with them but of course the girl had refused. She had said that she would wait for Adrien. However now that she was shaking from the cold, she was wondering if staying outside had actually been the right decision.

"Marinette!" A voice called. It was a girl's and Marinette's shoulders slumped as she saw Rose heading her way.

The blonde girl was linking arms with Jukela. As the two of them got closer, she was able to make out the outfits that they had come in. Rose had gone for something simple, a pink skater dress that was decorated in small petals. She was wearing fishnet tights that matched Jukela's. For one, Marinette knew that Jukela was never the 'girly' type but she had still made an effort tonight. Although her whole outfit did seem to scream 'giant bat', with a black dress that had a long arms billowing from it.

"Hey Rose, Jukela." Marinette greeted them with a kiss on the cheek.

"Why are you standing in the cold?" Rose asked pulling Jukela closer.

"Well the truth is I'm waiting for Adrien." Marinette replied with a grimace.

"In the cold?" Jukela mumbled.

"Yes." Marinette admitted. It also meant that she would have to sort out the Ladybug problem if she went inside and she was happy putting that off as long as possible.

"Marinette….it sounds so romantic!" Rose said in her day-dreamy voice. She gushed a deep pink.

"Not romantic if you get hyperthermia." Jukela pointed out.

Marinette nodded. "I'll be okay! You two should go in! I'm sure he will be along shortly anyway."

"Marinette…" Rose said.

"He'll be here! He said to Nino that-,"

Both of her friends stared at her with a long blink.

"Who am I kidding? His father's probably kept him away as usual." Marinette finally admitted the truth.

"Well, why don't you come inside with us?" Rose suggested.

Marinette nodded and started to follow them but not before taking one last look just in case he did show up. She sighed as she headed inside the hotel. It was a relief to get out of the cold but her stomach began to fill with dread. She wished Adrien was here to support her, even though he knew her secret, he might have been able to help with the problem that she now had to solve alone.

* * *

"A party invitation?" Gabriel Agreste said looking down at the piece of paper in disgust.

"Yes Father, it's Chloe's birthday tonight. Her party has already started." Adrien whispered as he sat rigid in his chair.

The two of them were sat alone in the dining room, his father on the other end of his table, finishing the remnants of his meal. Natalie stood tall and solemn in the corner of the room. She was watching his father with an intense gaze.

"Speak up Adrien. You shouldn't whisper in front of me."

Adrien repeated himself but made sure this time that his words were louder.

His Father shook his head and blinked slowly.

"Why am I only hearing about this now?" His voice was stern. The boy felt himself go rigid.

"Because you wouldn't have let me go Father. You never let me go anywhere!" Adrien protested.

"For all the right reasons! The world is dangerous. I am only doing it to protect you. My answer is no. You shall retire to your room and work on your piano tonight." His Father growled. "And for your disobedience, you shall not go to school on Monday."

"Father, please." Adrien begged. His lip was quivering and his heart racing. Why had he tried this again? His Father would never listen to him.

"Natalie, will you please escort him to his room?"

"Yes, sir." Natalie nodded.

She walked over to Adrien and put her hand on his shoulder. Adrien let her lead him to his room and he stared at the floor on the way back. He tried to calm his racing heart and the tears that were spilling. He couldn't lose control now. He was used to disappointment so why did this feel so different?

His mind flashed back to Marinette. Her smile and her clumsiness. A small smile played on his lips and his heart started to calm. Marinette, Ladybug; she was able to help him. Just knowing who she was now, it gave him so much hope.

Once back in his room, Adrien set his phone up and it started to play Chopin's Nocturne in B-flat minor Op. 9 No. 1. It was a difficult piece that his father had been making him work on for weeks. He would have loved to sit back and admire it but he had a party to go to.

"Plagg!" He called.

His kwami didn't reply at first and Adrien started to root through his cupboards to see if he could find his lazy companion. He made it through three drawers before he looked on his bed and found the cat fast asleep on his pillow. The kwami was snoring his head off.

Adrien shook him quickly with his finger. "Plagg, come on! We don't have a lot of time."

The kwami gave a yawn before opening one green eye.

"What's the rush? Is something important happening?" He asked stretching his tiny limbs.

"Yes, actually." Adrien replied. He opened his window with his remote and started to get ready to change into Chat Noir.

"Is it that blonde girl's birthday party?" Plagg asked with an eyeroll.

"Yes Plagg, I'd better go."

"Well if you're going to her birthday party, I'm sure she's going to love you showing up in your normal clothes."

Adrien looked down at himself and realised he was wearing his normal t-shirt and jeans. He sighed. "I'd better get changed."

He quickly ran to his closet and started to ransack it. It wasn't until he was at the back that he found a suit that he hadn't worn since he had gotten out for a meal with his mother. He clutched the sleeve as he recalled the night. They had gone out near the Eiffel tower. He shook his head. It wouldn't do him any good, bringing up any memories of the past. However his mother would go missing the week after.

Adrien shook his head again and got changed quickly. The suit fitted him but it felt a little tight. He looked down and noticed the pants just came short of his ankle. He had grown a little since he had last worn it. He pulled on some black shoes and looked at the time.

"Shoot, I really have to go. Plagg claws out!" He called.

A couple minutes later, Chat Noir scrambled away from the Agreste Mansion.

Inside the hotel, Marinette was watching everyone dance in the middle of the hotel. Chloe had hired out a local dj as Nino was currently dancing with Alya. Her other friends surrounded them also talking and here she was, standing near the balcony.

She had followed Rose and Jukela in and had just gone to wait in another place where it was warm.

"Marinette, why don't you go and join the others?" Tikki said as she floated near Marinette's face.

Marinette quickly scanned the area to make sure no-one could see the kwami.

"I don't know Tikki." Marinette mumbled. She sat down and leaned against the railing.

Tikki landed on her knee.

"Adrien, again?"

"Yes. I feel sorry for him. It's a shame that he couldn't come to the party but don't you think he would have told Nino if he couldn't come? I think it's a little weird that he hasn't said anything to him."

"I guess." TIkki agreed.

Both of them heard footsteps and Tikki hid.

"Marinette…" Alya sighed. Marinette looked up to see her best friend shaking her head at her.

Marinette didn't say anything. She just shrugged her shoulders and grimaced. Alya came up the last of the steps and sat down next to her best friend.

"How long have you been waiting for him?" She asked putting her arm around him.

"All night." Marinette whispered.

"Oh Marinette...why don't you come and dance with Nino and I? It might take your mind off him."

Marinette shoulders dropped and she sighed. "Will it though? Alya...I,"

She never got to finish as she heard Chloe shout "Adrinkins!"

* * *

Adrien should have expected to be bombarded by Chloe as he entered the hotel. It was like she had an antenna on the top of her head that told him where he was.

"Hey Chlo," He greeted with familiarity.

He tried to pull away from her as much as possible. She was his old childhood friend but that didn't mean he wanted to be that close to her.

Chloe pulled away but clutched his hand tightly. He tried to let go but she refused to budge. He noticed that she had done her hair for the party. It was in a fancy updo that she would have never been able to do herself. Her dress was yellow and striped. Similar to the top that she normally wore.

"I'm so glad you could come! We should go and dance!" Chloe said and started to pull him towards the dance floor.

"Chloe, before we do that. Is Marinette here?" He asked, scanning the crowd but seeing no sign of the pigtailed girl anywhere.

"Dupain-Cheng? She's around here somewhere," Chloe scoffed. "Now come on, we should go dance."

She tried to pull him away again but Adrien scanned the room once more and then caught sight of Marinette standing on the stairs.

He blinked as he fully took her in. Oh goodness. She was like a goddess shining in front of him. As he started to walk through the dancers, he could see her in all her beauty.

The dress she was wearing. Where on earth had she gotten it from? He liked to know the brands he wore, it was the whole thing with modeling. You had to know everything about the clothes, where they made, who had made them and what materials they were made of. Or maybe that was just him.

The dress was purple at the bottom and it flowed out like a petal with a few rose prints sown on the hem. Then his eyes moved up her body to the front. The whiteness draped across her skin and he could see her slender shoulders.

Adrien began to reach the stairs and noticed her hair. It was down again like it had been in the photoshoot. He loved her hair down, he realised. The way it shone in the light. He wished she would wear it down more often.

"Marinette." He said as the two of them on the stairs. She was slightly higher than him.

"Adrien, you came." Marinette said with a waver. Her eyes looked a little red.

"Are you crying?" He asked with a head turn.

Marinette laughed. "No! No! Just happ-," She stopped speaking as she composed herself. "I'm just glad that you're here."

Adrien smiled. "I'm sorry that I couldn't bring you to the party. You know what my father is like."

"It's okay." Marinette said.

"It's not, I'm sorry." Adrien whispered just low enough for her to hear.

Below them the music began to change. The song started to slow and people began to find partners to dance with.

"Do you want to dance with me?" Adrien offered his head.

Marinette nodded. She took his head as he lead her down to the dance floor below.


	11. 11

**This was supposed to be up on this fic's one year anniversary but guess that did happen because of life. Enjoy I guess, I'm still on the look out for a beta though. DM, if you're interested.**

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11

Chloe watched Marinette and Adrien as they danced through another song. She growled as she saw Adrien look at Marinette like she was the whole world. Why had he never looked at her that way? She turned her head away and saw Sabrina looking at her.

"What?" She scowled at her 'so' called best friend.

"Well , it's just that I thought you were going to dance with Adrien.." Sabrina replied clutching her arm as she stared at the other girl.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Wake up Sabrina! He's dancing with Dupain-Cheng, down there!"

"Why don't you ask him if he wants to dance then?" Sabrina offered.

"Sabrina. Please think for once in your life." Chloe insulted her as she looked at the pair again.

She had to think of a plan to get the two of them away from each other so that she could move into action. If she were to 'accidentally' ruin Marinette's dress then maybe she could get the two of them away from each other, just for a little bit. She wasn't exactly how she was going to do that.

"I think I may have a plan." Chloe offered.

Her best friend smile and nodded.

The two of them whispered for a moment before the blonde girl decided that she was going to offer everyone some well made macaroons. Her personal chef had made them specifically for the party.

She picked up the plate from the buffet table and walked towards the dance floor. She started to offer one to her guests as she got closer to the dancing pair. Kim wanted one and took several, not to say of the other people who grabbed them with their grubby hands.

Getting closer to Marinette and Adrien, Chloe signalled Sabrina to start walking towards her. The other girl had a glass of water clutched in her hand. It was time to enact the plan.

"Adrien, Du- Marinette would you like a macaroon?" Chloe offered, her voice rising into a false note.

The dancing pair stopped and turned to her. Before they could reply, Sabrina hurried over and Chloe made sure to stick her leg out so that she would trip.

"Whoops," Chloe muttered.

The four of them watched as the water spilled. It started it's way towards Marinette and Chloe watched it with a smirk. Any minute now and her dress would be ruined. However what Chloe didn't expect was Adrien to quickly stand in front of Marinette and to get his suit completely wet instead.

He spluttered as he shook the water droplets out of his hair.

"Adrikins, what did you do that for?" Chloe said.

She blinked and covered her mouth as she realised what she had said.

"To stop Marinette from getting wet. You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Adrien said with a glare.

Chloe blinked again. She didn't think she had ever see Adrien look that way at her. Was he actually angry, at _her_?

"Me? Adrien. That's ridiculous." She said with a fake laugh.

"Chloe...honestly?" Marinette said appearing from behind Adrien.

She looked at Adrien's wet suit and shook her head.

"Utterly ridiculous, that you would blame me for an accident." Chloe tutted.

She began to walk off and looked back at them with a grimace. They walked off to the other staircase and disappeared.

Chloe heard footsteps behind and saw Sabrina following her.

"Chloe. What do we do now?" Sabrina asked. She was still holding the glass.

"We don't do anything. Just go and put that glass back and leave me alone." Chloe muttered as she carried on up the stairs.

It was hard to believe that Adrien had looked at her with that face. On her birthday no less! Wasn't her childhood friend supposed to be on her side? She shook her head. She was sure he wasn't angry. She was sure!

Her birthday party wasn't ruined. She should just go and find him. They could continue the night as it was, that was all that mattered. She then realised that she still had an important guest coming. Ladybug had said she would come. Her night wasn't ruined. Ladybug was coming.

* * *

"I can't believe Chloe-," Marinette stopped as she watched Adrien dab at his suit with the towel that they had just gotten off one of the employees.

"I know but at least the water didn't get on you." Adrien said with a smile as he dabbed at his suit again.

"Yes but your suit got ruined because of me…" Marinette muttered. She gripped the railing and stared down at the dancing people below.

"It's only water, it will dry." Adrien said with a shrug. He placed the towel beside him.

"But still, everyone was staring. I just can't believe her." Marinette felt riled up. Sometimes she just couldn't stand Chloe. The other girl had always made her life a living hell and she eemed to get pleasure out of making other people miserable.

"I know but I'm glad she didn't ruin your dress, it's beautiful." Adrien complimented her as he looked her up and down again.

Marinette was trying so hard not to blush but her cheeks couldn't escape from the red tinge.

"T-T-Thanks." She stuttered looking at him with a goofy smile.

She cringed inwardly. Here she was, looking nice and she was still acting like a fool.

"I made it myself." She managed to say.

Adrien's jaw dropped and then he smiled.

"Marinette, I really do think you should show my father especially when you can design and make things like that. I'm sure he would appreciate actually meeting you in person."

Marinette felt dumbfounded. Adrien thought her designs were as good as his father's?

"Thanks Adrien but I don't think I'm ready for that." Marinette said with a shrug.

Adrien patted the spot next to him as he was sitting on a row of chairs to himself. She found herself sitting next to him in less than a second. He reached across and put his hand on her knee. Marinette could do nothing but freeze. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Why was he touching her?

"Why don't you think you're ready?" He asked.

She mulled it over for a second and all sorts of feelings came rushing to her mind. How scared that she would be judged and to know that maybe she wouldn't create anything as good as Gabriel Agreste. Although she had made the dress, she had to have help from Alya. She was far off from being like Adrien's father.

"I just don't feel like I'm ready." Marinette said fidgeting with her hands.

"I see." Adrien said and he shuffled a little closer to her.

Marinette's heart which had been given a little time to calm down started to hammer again. She could smell his cologne, a musky smell but there also seemed to be a small hint of cheese.

They stayed silent for a couple of moments as the music below them got louder and louder.

"Marinette...I," Adrien said and he started to learn forward.

Marinette eyes widened. She started to move back. Was he trying to? She let him come a little closer before moving away again.

"Adrien, I can't." She said and she couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my mouth.

"Why not?" Adrien said. He was looking at the floor and not at her.

"Because-," She didn't know how to finish.

"You're not ready?" Adrien finished. His words were hollow and he still wasn't looking at her.

"That's not what I meant, Adrien." Marinette said.

"I know." Adrien's voice was soft.

The two were silent again, at a slight odds with each other. Where did they stand?

* * *

It was later in the night and Chloe was clutching her teddy bear close to her chest. In the end Ladybug had never come. She had promised her! Adrien had said that it would have danced with her at her party. He had promised her!

Her mind flicked back to a promise from long ago, where she had ran to try and catch her mother's hand. Her mother had pushed her away with a laugh, she had promised that she would take her to New York but she had left. She hadn't seen her since.

Only her Daddy kept her promises, everyone broke them. Even Sabrina. Chloe found tears brewing in her eyes. She sobbed into her bed. Her birthday was ruined. She didn't notice was the black butterfly approaching her through the open window.

* * *

"Adrien. Do you think we should get back and join the others?" Marinette said with a shrug. She was trying to sound normal so that she could pretend everything was okay.

She didn't need anyone to know that the love of her life had just tried to kiss her and she had stopped him.

"Yeah, we should." Adrien said. His voice still hollow.

He stood up and stretched his legs.

When he turned to Marinette, she felt her heart sink. The smile that he had been given her was gone. What it was replaced with was the cardboard one. The one where only part of his lip smiled as if he was trying to hide his true feelings. She had never seen past it before and already she missed his true sunshine smile.

They started to walk towards the dance floor together when they heard the screaming. Marinette froze but then remembered Adrien knew. It wouldn't matter if she transformed in front of him but then again, old habits were hard to break.

"I bet that's an akuma." Adrien said pointing down at something she couldn't see.

"I need to transform," Marinette muttered to herself. She looked again at Adrien.

"Go Marinette, I'll try and get people out. I think we need Ladybug." His smile changed again and he ran towards the stairs.

As Marinette ran to a place to transform, she was hit with a sudden realization. Adrien had cheered up when he had said Ladybug. Ever since he had found out her secret, he had acted, well like he had a crush on her.

Adrien was in love with Ladybug, who he now knew was Marinette. Even with that realisation, her feelings began to twist. He only saw Ladybug.

She shook her head. She couldn't be thinking about her feelings right now! She had a job to do.

"Spots on!" She cried.

A moment later, Ladybug ran towards the screams and the sounds of crashing. What on earth was going on?

People at the party were clinging together, shaking with fear. Marinette grumbled. It was always like this. Why did Hawkmoth enjoy tormenting the citizens of Paris? She heard a cry from the other side and turned to see the newly turned victim.

A girl about her age who screaming about how she was going to take everything away from her. Ladybug blinked as she noticed the familiar hairstyle. It was Chloe, although it was a strange looking Chloe with her skin being black. Her dress had become red and seemed to line with her skin. On her hands were a strange light that she started to amit towards Ladybug.

"You didn't come to my party. You said you would! Everyone always breaks their promises, so I'm going to make sure that every promise you've ever kept is spilled out in the open!" Chloe laughed as she shot what looked like water mist.

"And then you will pledge yourself to me as my minion. Someone who can never break their promise!" Chloe finished her monologuing.

Ladybug was able to dodge it as she somersaltured back on the stairs. It landed on top of the head of one of the people that she went to school with. He touched it and then all of a sudden started to roll his head back, laughing.

"I promised that I would never tell my best friend that I accidentally killed her goldfish." He turned to the girl she was with.

Her mouth was hanging over and she was shaking her hand.

"Pierre, why?" She said with a headshake.

The boy that ran to Chloe's side as his clothes began to change into a black latex suit, not too dissimilar to the same outfit Chloe was wearing.

Ladybug turned back to Chloe or the akuma. She knew that part of this was her fault; that Ladybug should have shown up. She had made a promise but she had clearly broken it. She felt bad and knew she would have to make amends with the girl.

"I'm sorry Chloe. I should have come when you wanted me but is that any reason to start attacking people?" Ladybug aimed her yo-yo at the girl as she spoke but it was quickly battered away.

"My name isn't Chloe, it's Pledger!" She yelled sending beams of that strange mist all around the room.

Below them people began to murmur and raised voices began to emerge.. Chloe was laughing and started to run up the stairs towards the other rooms in the hotel.

"I need to find Dupain-Cheng to make her pay for dancing with my Adrkins." She laughed, then she stopped.

Ladybug heard her having a conversation with someone. There was no doubt that it was Hawkmoth.

She tried to think where Chloe's akuma could be. She hadn't seen Chloe for a while so she didn't know what objects she had on her at the time.

Ladybug paused at the top of the stairs for a moment, wondering what would be the best cause of action.

"Looks like this is one weird akuma." A deep voice said from behind her.

She whisked around to see Chat Noir leaning against the wall. His smirk. The one Adrien had shown before was on his face.

"Yes, she goes around breaking promises. I don't know what that would mean for us." Ladybug grimaced.

"Well before we find out, let's go and put a stop to it!" Chat Noir cried as he ran forward towards the hotel hallway.

Ladybug rolled her eyes and just followed.


	12. 12

**This should have been up months ago but time just slips away, I'm hoping to get this story finished by the end of the year. Thanks to Hesturoth for being my beta on this chapter.**

* * *

12

The pair of them approached the corridor slowly. Ladybug turned around to see Chat Noir perched on the rail, his tail swishing. His whole body looked like he was about to pounce.

Ladybug mouthed, "Do you see her anywhere?"

He shook his head, gripping his baton tight in the process. The lights in the hallway were flickering and there was a strange hushed silence. Ladybug started to tip-toe towards the last door. She heard laughing from inside and pushed the door open.

It was one of the master suites and a couple were holding hands underneath the table. Pledger was laughing to herself as she aimed her ring at them. "You're supposed to be husband and wife, let's see what happens when he breaks that promise!" She laughed and the light started to coat the man.

He let go of his wife and started to laugh. He said something to her that Ladybug didn't get to hear as she was already chasing Pledger. The villain had decided to make her hasty exit through a window. As Ladybug got nearer to the balcony, she saw her make her way quickly down the back of the hotel and into an alleyway.

"Chat Noir! Come on!" She called as she turned to look back into the room.

He was looking at the couple with a glazed expression. He then heard her voice, shook his head and came over to the balcony. "Sorry M'Lady." He said getting his baton ready to vault.

"I think I may know where her akuma is, that ring on her finger. That's where the mist comes from." Ladybug nodded with assurance.

Chat Noir smiled. "Well I hope that's a promise for me!"

"Could you go a day without any puns? For once?" She sounded unamused.

"Nope. Puns are part of the Chat Noir charm. They're here to stay. No puns would be like you not having your lucky charm."

"Of course. It's not like you could just shut up." She batted one of his ears and it twitched. She giggled a little before focusing again.

Meanwhile Chat Noir was trying not to lean too close. She had flicked his ear. _Marinette_ had flicked his ear. Sometimes it was easy to forget that it was _Marinette_ underneath that red mask. "Well, I think we have an akuma to catch." He said and vaulted over the rooftops of Paris.

"You read my mind!" Ladybug followed through with her yo-yo.

It took them some time to find Pledger. Her powers were unique, and it was hard to spot the people who had been affected. The pair of them found a pair of litter pickers who had decided to start throwing the litter everywhere. That was where the trail had started. When they had passed a few more people who had been affected, they finally found Pledger in one of the parks.

She was standing in a tree, laughing at her father who was pleading with her. It wasn't rare to see the Mayor of Paris answering to his daughter, but the sight was still bitter to see. He wasn't wearing his usual sash. He was adorned in a suit that would have fit the theme of Chloe's birthday party instead of his normal suit.

"Please sweetheart! Spare me! I promise to always be mayor! Don't do this to me!" His hands were clenched together like he was praying for his life.

"Sorry Daddy! But everyone has to pay for what they did to me! It's only Ladybug next after I get her miraculous!" She laughed and aimed at her father, at least she would have, if a baton hadn't come flying and knocked her out of the tree. She groaned onto the ground and the light faded into the grass.

"You! Ladybug you're going to pay for what you did to me!" Pledger growled and got up quickly.

Before she could get any closer, Ladybug cried "Lucky Charm." She didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't a roll of dotted string that landed into her hands. She was baffled as she looked around. She saw the trash can light up and the tree that Pledger had just been in. Then the plan started to formulate in her mind.

"Chat Noir, I need you to be a distraction!" She told him as she started to unwrap the string.

"How long is that piece of string?" He called and ran to reclaim his baton.

"As much as we need!" Ladybug taunted back and wrapped the string around the dustbin. The string held tight and then she moved to the tree.

In the distance, she could see Chat Noir fighting with Pledger. Chat was able to jump out of the light's way. There were several near hits, but he luckily had the reflexes of a cat. All she had to do was now lead the akumatized girl to the string.

"I wonder what promises you would break Chat Noir?" Pledger drawled, sending the light towards him.

Ladybug aimed her yo-yo and deflected the light as best she could. Some of it started to float towards the city but that wasn't their concern right now. "Come on! It's me you want isn't it?"

Pledger growled and started to run towards her. Ladybug made sure she knew where the string was and jumped over it. The villain, who hadn't been expecting any string, went tumbling and her ring clattered to the ground.

"No!" She shouted.

Chat Noir took that moment to bound on all fours. "Cataclysm!" He reached out, touching the ring, and the ring cracked open when it fell to the ground. The black akuma fluttered out before it was caught in Ladybug's yo-yo.

Chloe was released from her akumazation and fell to her knees on the ground. With another use of "Miraculous Ladybug," the city was back to normal. Ladybug watched as Chloe blinked, looking startled. Ladybug headed over to her. "I'm sorry." She said and slipped the ring back on Chloe's finger.

"Ladybug?" Chloe said standing up. She looked a little miffed still. Ladybug tensed.

"I'm sorry that I didn't come to your party. I'm the reason you ended up like this. I guess I shouldn't make promises I can't keep." She said with an apologetic shrug.

Chloe latched onto her and smiled. "Apology accepted! But next time, you're coming!"

Ladybug pried her off and laughed. "Yes."

Her earrings started beeping and she waved to the two of them before swinging on her way.

Chat Noir walked over to Chloe with a frown. "Do you need a lift back... or?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "No. I'll get Jean Du Arc to pick me up." Adrien laughed and his ring started beeping. He too left. He needed to get back to Chloe's party.

* * *

As he landed back in the corridor of the hotel he had left, he heard Marinette's voice coming from further down. He immediately went to her. When he approached her, she was huddled up against a wall looking down at something in her hands.

"I know Tikki, we'll find you something to eat as soon as possible." She said and then turned around to see Adrien.

She blinked and then hid her hands behind her back. Adrien had to assume that 'Tikki' was her kwami but he wasn't supposed to know what a kwami was.

"Marinette?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Adrien, I can explain!" Well she couldn't really explain the 'achoo' that came out of her hands.

"Can you?" He let the teasing come out in his voice.

He didn't know what he expected but it wasn't for Marinette to look him with wide eyes and to shake her head. It was new for him to see her so vulnerable. It reminded him that Ladybug, underneath the mask, was just a kid like him.

She brought her hands in front her and showed him a large giant bug. Said bug was sitting in Marinette's palm and looking at him with wide eyes. It was her kwami, and a bit like what he had pictured what Ladybug's looked like.

"Adrien, I," Marinette paused. She really was at a loss for words.

"It's fine," He said with a chuckle. "Hi. I'm guessing your what gives Ladybug her powers?" His eyes went down to Tikki.

The kwami nodded. "Hi. It's nice to finally meet you Adrien." Her voice couldn't be described anything other than cute.

"You know my name?" Adrien said with a small laugh.

"Yes. Marinette never stops talking about you." Tikki smiled innocently.

Adrien was a little taken aback. "She does?"

"Tikki! Come on let's go and get you some food!" Marinette's voice sounded quite high.

Tikki nodded and the pair left Adrien. He watched them go. She was politer than Plagg but then again Adrien had a soft spot for Plagg... not that he would ever tell the kwami that. No, that was a secret that he was going to take to the grave.

"So. You've met Tikki." Plagg popped out of his shirt. The black cat's green eyes glinted.

"Yes, what about her?" Adrien looked at the kwami with an eyebrow raised.

"Well... she knows you're Chat Noir, but luckily she won't tell bakery girl. We kwamis are sworn to secrecy." He mimicked sealing his lips shut with his small paw.

"What do you mean she knows I'm Chat Noir?" Adrien didn't try to hide the panic in his voice.

"She's known since Dark Owl." Plagg answered with a shrug.

Adrien was silent as he mulled the revelation over. Of course Tikki would have known he was Chat Noir. The two kwamis had seen each other's chosen, so they should have known who they were.

Adrien suddenly realized what that meant. "All that time you knew who Ladybug was?"

"Yes, but it wasn't my secret to tell. It was painful watching you two fall over each other. Honestly Adrien, you're a fool." Plagg said with a chuckle as he flew onto his chosen's shoulder.

Adrien couldn't stop the blush on his cheeks. He felt a little embarrassed that it had been so obvious, but he had been blind. Now he knew who the girl of his dreams was. That was all that mattered. He would keep her secret as long as he could.

He started to walk towards the lobby of the hotel. The aftermath of the akuma was still prevalent with people rubbing their heads, trying to remember what happened. His eyes found Marinette scooping up some of the food that had fallen onto the ground. To anyone else, it looked like she was trying to clean up, but Adrien knew that she was finding something for Tikki to eat.

"You couldn't have gotten me any cheese?" Plagg sounding miffed as he also caught a glimpse of Marinette.

Adrien rolled his eyes. "We both know that you had a giant piece of cheese about twenty minutes ago."

"That was twenty minutes ago. This is now!" Plagg grumbled.

"Well you can have some cheese when I get home, how about that?" Adrien offered.

The kwami perked up at that and flew back into his pocket with a small cheer. Adrien smiled and looked back down at the lobby floor. Marinette was standing up and talking to Alya. She seemed happy. She hadn't even noticed him watching her.

As he looked at the time on his phone it was getting close to midnight. He would have to get home and fast. Calling on his familiar transformation, he climbed out the same window and onto the Paris rooftops.

He was a black silhouette against a starless sky. The city sounded quiet, but it was always quiet after an akuma attack... like the whole area needed to recharge before the people that gave it vibrancy surrounded it again.

As he got closer to home, he stared at his bedroom and let out a shaky breath. He would have to be careful. He had been gone a lot longer than he originally intended. He stared at the window for a good five minutes knowing that if he hadn't snuck out of the house. He would have never gotten to dance with Marinette. It was like his father was trying to control him on purpose.

He launched himself through the window and landed on the floor.

"Claws in." He muttered and Plagg flew out of his ring.

The lights flickered on and Adrien turned quickly to see his father standing in front of him... his eyes, staring and empty. Adrien's eyes grew wide and he took a step back.

"Where have you been?" His father's cold voice drawled.


	13. 13

**I have no excuse for time-keeping other than that I'm just a very disorganised human being.**

 **Thanks to Hesturoth for betaing this chapter.**

* * *

13

It was the Monday after Chloe's party and Marinette was just getting herself ready for school. She had her sketchbook open, laid out with a pencil resting across it. She had fallen asleep on her desk last night while trying to think of some new designs. Tikki was asleep by her pencil and she didn't want to wake her up, but she wanted to take the book to school. A thought ran through her head, maybe she could show Adrien? If she gave him the sketch book, then he could pass it along to his Father.

She knew that Gabriel Agreste admired her work since she won the design contest a while ago. If he had another look at them, perhaps he could give her feedback. Her mind was now swelling with ideas and she couldn't wait to see Adrien when she got to school. However, her mind was so full of thoughts that she didn't realize there were some clothes in a pile. She tripped and landed on the floor.

"Ow." She muttered and got up quickly, rubbing her face where the floor had made the most impact.

"Marinette?" The kwami gave a loud yawn and stretched her limbs as she opened her eyes.

"Morning, Tikki. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up like that." Marinette apologized.

She opened her hands up so the kwami could fly into them. "Did you trip over something?" Tikki tilted her head.

Marinette eyes looked back to the pile of clothes. "Yes, although the truth is, I was thinking about Adrien this morning."

"Just normal Marinette then." Tikki said sticking her tongue out.

"Hey!" Marinette said with a chuckle. "I do think of other things besides him."

"But when it comes to Adrien, it's like you can't think of anything else."

"I know. Well, I should start getting ready for school." Marinette said with a wink.

She clambered off the floor and made sure to grab her sketchbook. About five minutes later, she was dressed and headed downstairs. Her parents were in the bakery as normal, cooking a batch of croissants. Marinette made sure she grabbed two before she left. Adrien would want one.

"Marinette, I'm going to need your help in the bakery tonight?" Her mother called after her. Marinette nodded her head as she ran out of the bakery.

Paris was busy as usual with its commuters walking past. Marinette carried on running as she ate her croissant. She was afraid that she was going to be late for school. As she finished the remainder of croissant, she reached the school, where Alya was waiting for her.

"Marinette!" She called. Marinette went over to her and greeted her with a cheek kiss.

"Hi Alya."

"You look like you've just ran a marathon, girl."

"I thought I was going to be late this morning." Marinette said quickly as she tried to catch her breath discreetly.

Ayla looked at her phone. "Well for you, I would say this is just on time. Usually you don't show up until the middle of the day."

To that Marinette had no answer. "I just lose track of time." She managed to mumble out.

Alya shook her head fondly and smiled. She wrapped her arm around her as the two best friends headed up the steps. Other students were filtering in now and of course Marinette kept a look out for Adrien, but she couldn't see head nor tail of the young blonde anywhere. She pushed the worry down as she headed into the classroom.

There were a group of students all gathered around Nino who was reading a text from his phone. There were a lot of gloomed faces, especially from Chloe as Marinette took a quick glance at her.

"What's happened?" Alya asked before Marinette could. Nino frowned and passed his phone to her. Marinette watched as Alya's eyes widened. However, before she could tell Marinette what had actually happened, Chloe decided to butt in.

"What's happened is that Adrien isn't allowed to come to school anymore," She growled looking straight at Marinette.

"Why?" Marinette mumbled out.

"Why? Why Dupain-Cheng?" Chloe jumped down from the desk she was sitting on and walked straight up to the girl. She then proceeded to poke her finger into her chest. "The only thing I can think of is because he came to my party, and then ended up with you. Whatever you did, I'm sure it's your fault. Marinette just stared across at Chloe. There were thousands of remarks that floated across her head. The fact that Chloe was the one that had her party and that she had only been akumatized as well. There were so many things she could have said, but instead she just stayed silent. "Well?" Chloe raised her eyebrow.

"Chloe, leave her alone. It's more your fault." Alya put her hands on her hip and scowled at the blonde girl.

"Ridiculous." Chloe muttered but moved away and went to stand by Sabrina. She began to talk to her and of course Marinette didn't miss the scathing looks that the girls kept sending her. She turned instead to Nino who was frowning at his phone.

"Can I have a look Nino?" She asked.

The boy in question nodded and passed his phone to her.

'I won't be able to come to school anymore.' It was just a one sentence text and for some reason alarm bells rang in Marinette's head.

"Don't you think it's a little strange?" She mumbled. She forgot that Nino was listening and was surprised when he answered back.

"I do, Adrien would never be this blunt. Sure, the dude might sometimes not understand things, but he would always tell me the reason why. It's like he didn't send this text." Nino replied looking straight at her.

Marinette nodded in agreement. "I think his dad sent this text, which means that if you send one back or call him, I don't think Adrien is going to reply."

"It's always his father, isn't it? It's not cool!" Nino shouted in frustration. Everybody in the classroom turned to look at her with confusion on their faces.

"Sorry," He muttered sheepishly.

The cogs in Marinette's head were beginning to turn. She looked up to Gabriel Agreste as a fashion designer, but as a father he had some very questionable methods. To keep Adrien from school, the one thing that she knew he loved? She felt disheartened that he would even do such a thing. She had an idea. Was it a stupid idea? If she told Tikki, the kawmi would think so. But she was going do it. She was going to visit Adrien as Ladybug after school.

"Okay everyone, can we please get into our seats?" Miss Bustier called as she walked into the classroom.

All the students scurried out of the way and into their seats. As the school day began, Marinette tried to focus on her schoolwork but her mind started to think about Adrien sitting at home all alone, probably doing his school work in silence. A deep ache began in her chest, she missed him.

She missed talking to him and he had only been out of school one day. What if this continued, could she last more than one day? Maybe it was naive of her to wish that he was here, but all his friends missed him as well. She would get to the bottom of what happened.

As soon as the school day was over, she got ready to run out of the classroom when her bag straps where pulled back by Alya. She was turned around to by her best friend to look at her. Alya was frowning at her.

"Where on earth are you running off to?" She asked, her tone hinting at something more.

"Nothing!" Marinette squeaked. Inside she let out a groan, whenever she had something to hide her voice would get high and squeaky. So of course, Alya would have noticed that. She needed to be quick and come up with a lie.

"Marinette, tell me the truth."

"My mom wants me to help out in the shop tonight, I was just thinking if I get home early then we can bake some cookies and try to give them to Adrien?" Marinette managed to suggest.

Ayla's eyes widened. "That's a great idea Marinette! Do you know what else we could do?"

"What?" Marinette said eyeing the classroom door. She took a few steps back.

"Everybody could do a gift for Adrien then give it to him. If we show him how much our friendship means to him in front of his father, then I hope that moves even Gabriel Agreste's cold heart." Alya said with a glint in her eye. When the reporter had an idea in her head, it usually ended up being pretty good.

"That's a great idea, Alya. I'll go ahead and run home. Let everybody know!" Marinette called as she ran out of the classroom. She ran out of the school, making sure not to run into Jukela and Rose as the two of them walked past holding hands.

She saw an alleyway and ducked into it. There were two trash cans, one of them on the ground with the bits of trash scattered on the ground. It was here she choose to stand behind and looked up and down to see if anyone was there. "Tiiki," She began.

Tikki flew out of her bag and crossed her arms. "You're not making Adrien cookies. Marinette, what's this really about?"

"Tikki, I need to go and see Adrien but the only way I can do that is as Ladybug." Marinette admitted not looking the Kwami in the eyes.

Tikki shook her head. "Marinette you know your powers aren't meant to be used for personal things! This is a stupid idea."

"No, it's not. I need to find out."

Tikki flew up to her face and put her paw on her cheek. "Marinette, please. This could end in disaster. You should just try as Marinette and if not, then we will have to actually try Alya's idea."

If Marinette wasn't stubborn, maybe she would have really listened to Tikki. But couldn't the Kwami see that this was important! This wasn't a personal matter. This was about Adrien.

"This is about Adrien, Tikki. I can't imagine how he feels right now, I need to see him."

"Marinette, sometimes things are more important than your feelings for him. I'm sure he's fine."

Marinette almost laughed. "You heard everybody talking about the text. That was his father. I want to know how he is. He doesn't have his phone. At least I care enough to check on him."

"Marinette, I just have a bad feeling, please don't do this. If something happens…" Tikki pleaded, her voice sounding like it was on the edge of tears.

"Tikki I have to do this, I'm sorry." She said.

The kwami stayed silent.

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette cried and then leaped from the alleyway onto the roof above.

She took a deep breath as she stared up at the sky. In the almost year that she had Tikki, she had never really argued with the kwami but sometimes the small disagreements weighed heavily on her shoulders. Part of her was wondering whether Tikki was right and that she was making a mistake. It might be a huge mistake, but she had to see that Adrien was okay.

She knew that he was used to being alone in his room, but being locked up and isolated, it was one of the worst things a human could go through. She would hate to be locked up. Even when she was grounded, she at least felt like she was still welcome in her own home. For Adrien, she wasn't sure.

She clutched her yo-yo and stared down at it. It was now or never. With a leap and jump, Ladybug began to swing her way towards the Agreste Mansion.


	14. 14

Thanks to Hesturoth for betaing this chapter as usual. Hang on to your socks, it gets a bit angsty.

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Chapter 14

Ladybug arrived outside the Agreste Mansion and saw Adrien's window. She looked through her communicator to see him sitting on his couch staring into space. His eyes were closed, and it was like an arrow went through her heart. His father had done this. She looked around the mansion to see that the cameras were aimed at the gate. They were moving now, to look at Adrien's window. They hadn't done that before. She needed to time her entrance just right.

An idea formed in her head. She was already betraying Tikki and this was perhaps going to make the betrayal worse, but she had no idea how she was going to get in unless she used her lucky charm. It was now or never. With a deep breath, she cried 'lucky charm.'

Something came tumbling out of the sky, landing in her hands. It was a spotted remote. She looked at it and then to the window. She blinked as she realized that it was a remote to open the window. It opened and she swung inside.

Adrien stood up, his eyes going wide as he took in her presence.

"Ladybug, you shouldn't be here, my dad-," he said, but Ladybug interrupted him.

"Adrien, I came to rescue you. Come on. Let's go!" She reached for his hand, but Adrien pulled away quickly.

Before Ladybug could react, her earrings flashed and Tikki flew out, landing in her hands. Marinette quickly pulled out a candy and gave it for Tikki to munch on. The kwami looked at her surroundings before her eyes rested on Adrien.

"Marinette, I told you this was a bad idea." She said through bites.

"I agree. Marinette, you have to leave. It isn't safe." Adrien looked straight at her. Marinette was stunned for a second. His eyes were red, almost as if he had been crying. But the way his eyes seemed to look at her, they were soft.

"Adrien, I came all this way. Everybody's worried. I thought that if I came to rescue you..." She trailed off not sure how to continue.

"Marinette... Please, you have to leave." Adrien begged.

At that point, Tikki had finished the candy and flew up to Marientte's face.

"Adrien is right Marinette. We need to leave."

Marinette ignored her. "Adrien, please. I'm not going without you-,"

Adrien walked forward and his hands reached for hers. It was just a moment before he decided to pull away. Marinette's heart fluttered a little, what had that been about?

Before the two of them could figure out what on earth had just happened, Adrien's door began to open. Alarm appeared on Adrien's face and he grabbed Marinette by the arm. In the next couple of seconds, he dragged her into his bathroom and shut the door.

Marinette took a second to get her bearings as Tikki floated through the door. She staggered to her feet and leaned against the door. She heard Gabriel Agreste's cold voice.

"Adrien. Have you decided to tell me why you thought it would be a good idea to leave the safety of your house yet?" It must have been about how he got out for Chloe's party.

Marinette continued listening. It wasn't a surprise that Adrien had left his house. She had seen him do it before, she just wasn't sure how.

There was silence for a moment before his father continued.

"I have taken away your school privileges, your phone, and contact with your so called 'friends.' Can I make myself any clearer?" His father's voice was like a knife cutting through her skin.

Marinette gripped the door. She wanted to run out and stand in front of them. She wanted to protect him. She was a hero, wasn't she? She protected the weak and innocent. She tried to give them some hope, but she was hurt even more as she heard the words that Gabriel Agreste used, 'Useless' and 'waste of my time'. More knives.

She felt tears prick her eyes and she huddled into herself. She was supposed to be a hero. She needed to protect people. But how could she be a hero when she couldn't protect him from those knives? Her tears sprouted, and she wept. She wasn't a hero, not when she couldn't help the boy she loved.

As she sobbed, she almost didn't hear the bathroom door open. Adrien stood behind her.

"Marinette?" He asked.

Marinette looked up and sniffed. She didn't reply and just looked at her knees. She felt embarrassed. She was crying in Adrien's bathroom.

She felt Adrien move around her and then sit in front of her. There was a pause before Adrien spoke again.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because-, your dad, the way he spoke to you. Why would he speak to you like that?" Marinette sniffled and wiped one of the tears away from her eyes.

She looked up at Adrien. He reached out and rested his hand on hers.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that. I've gotten used to it." He mumbled, looking over at the shower.

"Adrien. Nobody should speak to anyone like that. It's wrong." Marinette replied.

Adrien looked at her again. His sad smile was back. He was just a lonely boy and she knew it, but he kept hiding it underneath that lonely smile. She hated it. She wanted the smile that he gave when he was with friends. She wanted to make him happy.

"It's how he's been since Mother disappeared. I don't think that he's going to change anytime soon." He squeezed her hand.

Marinette looked up and she was struck again by how green his eyes were. She could lose herself in them. Adrien moved closer and his hand stroked her cheek. It was almost like a magic spell washed over them.

He reached forward and then suddenly Marinette didn't care. She reached up and their lips met. Kissing Adrien was nothing like what she had imagined, it was softer, sweeter, like a breeze on a summer's day. Adrien stroked her hair and pulled her closer. She wanted to never let go.

Then she remembered. This was wrong. Adrien was in love with Ladybug. A hero. She wasn't the hero he needed. She opened her eyes and pushed him away with her hands.

"Marinette?" Adrien asked, stunned.

Marinette's breathing began to get quicker. "This is wrong, Adrien. This is all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Adrien said, his voice almost breaking.

"You love Ladybug, not me." Marinette said.

"Yes, and you're Ladybug. I love you Marinette."

If this was under different circumstances, she would have melted hearing him say those words. That the boy she loved, loved her. But she wasn't the hero he saw. She was poor Marinette who couldn't save the boy she loved from his father.

"I'm not the hero you see me as Adrien." Marinette said as she started to stand up.

Adrien stayed on the floor and looked at her. "Marinette-,"

"No. I couldn't save you Adrien. I'm sorry. You're right I shouldn't have come." She looked into his eyes and saw the pain and suffering because of his father, because of her. She needed to go. It was all too much.

"Tikki, spots on." She cried.

In the next few moments she pretended not to hear Adrien's protests. It didn't matter. She got the remote from her lucky charm again and launched herself out of the window. She only had five minutes before she changed back. She didn't think. She just kept on running and running.

When her earrings flashed again, she stopped on a rooftop. Tikki appeared before her looking weak. Her eyes dark. Marinette passed her a cookie this time, which she slowly started to eat. Marinette could hear people walking down below and cars honking as they went past. She wanted to cry again. She remembered the kiss with Adrien. She hadn't wanted to stop.

"You were right, Tikki. I should have never gone there." She said looking across at her kwami.

"It doesn't matter now Marinette. What does matter is you." Tikki flew up to Marinette's cheek.

"I'm fine Tikki." Marinette said wiping her tears away quickly.

It was obvious that Marinette was not fine, and Tikki knew it.

"Marinette…"

"I'm supposed to be a hero Tikki. I'm supposed to protect people. Yet when Gabriel Agreste was saying all those mean things to Adrien, there was nothing I could do. I felt weak. I can take down villains easily, but when it comes to that? I'm not a hero." She pulled her knees into her chest.

Tikki smiled. "I think anyone would have done the same in your situation. There was probably nothing you could do."

Those words didn't seem to help. Marinette began to cry, her eyes becoming redder.

"I just want to be left alone." Marinette mumbled and started to cry into her knees.

Tikki frowned as she thought that this was only something that perhaps Adrien could solve, or even Chat Noir. Marinette needed Adrien. She knew that doing something that like this was very risky for someone like her. But Marinette needed his help.

With a nod, she flew back towards the Agreste Mansion. As she left, she failed to notice what was on the other side of the building. It flew over rooftops and chimneys, heading straight for Marinette. Flapping its wings, was a single black butterfly.


End file.
